Felon in Possession of a Firearm in Georgia

Georgia law prohibits anyone convicted of a felony from receiving, possessing, or transporting a firearm. This prohibition reaches further than many people expect, extending to a category of people whose underlying offense was never formally adjudicated as a conviction in the traditional sense.

Who the Statute Covers

O.C.G.A. § 16-11-131 applies to any person convicted of a felony by a court in Georgia, by a federal court, or by a court in another state. Significantly, the statute also expressly extends to persons currently serving felony probation under Georgia’s First Offender Act, found at O.C.G.A. § 42-8-60. This means a person who received first-offender treatment, which is designed to avoid a formal adjudication of guilt if probation is completed successfully, is nonetheless covered by the firearm prohibition while still serving that probation.

What Conduct Is Prohibited

The statute prohibits a covered person from receiving, possessing, or transporting any firearm. This broad language reaches more than just owning a gun outright; it can apply to physical possession or transportation of a firearm under a range of circumstances.

Penalty Structure

A general conviction under § 16-11-131 carries a sentence of one to ten years of imprisonment. If the felony underlying the prohibition was a forcible felony, the statute imposes a mandatory five-year sentence. A second or subsequent conviction under this statute increases the range to five to ten years. Separately, a prohibited person who attempts to purchase or obtain transfer of a firearm, where the underlying conviction was a forcible felony, faces one to five years for a first offense and five to ten years for a second offense.

The Federal Parallel and Dual Prosecution

Georgia’s felon-in-possession statute runs alongside a similar federal prohibition found at 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Because the state and federal offenses arise from separate sovereigns with their own statutory elements, an acquittal in a Georgia prosecution does not bar a subsequent federal prosecution arising from the same underlying conduct, and the reverse is also true.

The Pardon Exception

A pardon that expressly authorizes the restoration of firearm possession rights removes the § 16-11-131 disability. A more general restoration of civil rights, without an express firearm authorization, is not sufficient on its own to remove this particular prohibition. The detailed process for pursuing restoration of firearm rights in Georgia is addressed separately.

First Offender Treatment After Discharge

The statute’s coverage of a person while still serving first-offender probation is explicit, and so is what happens afterward on the state-law side. Georgia’s statute provides that a person sentenced as a first offender who is later discharged without a court adjudication of guilt, upon successful completion of that discharge, is relieved from the firearm disability that § 16-11-131 otherwise imposes. This relief applies to the state-law prohibition specifically; it does not by itself resolve how a separate federal firearm prohibition might treat the same discharge, since federal law applies its own definition of what counts as a disqualifying conviction.

A Frequently Misunderstood Coverage Gap

Many people who accepted first-offender treatment assume that, because they were never formally adjudicated guilty of a felony, the firearm restrictions that apply to felons do not apply to them. That assumption can be incorrect, at least during the period of active first-offender probation, since the statute’s text specifically extends coverage to first-offender probationers as a separate category from those with a final felony conviction.

This page addresses the status-based offense of being a prohibited person who possesses a firearm. It does not address the separate process for restoring firearm rights once a disability attaches, and it does not address the distinct add-on offense that applies to possessing a weapon during the commission of certain other felonies, both of which are governed by their own separate statutory provisions.

This article provides general information about Georgia law and is not legal advice. Consult a licensed Georgia attorney about a specific situation.