Georgia does not have a general firearm-storage law. Georgia statutes impose no mandatory locking, no mandatory safe, no mandatory locking device, and...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
Georgia does not have a general firearm-storage law. Georgia statutes impose no mandatory locking, no mandatory safe, no mandatory locking device, and no civil or criminal liability for adults who leave their own firearms unsecured in their own homes or vehicles. Georgia has no Child Access Prevention (CAP) statute. The handful of storage rules that do exist in Georgia code are narrow carve-outs (school-zone vehicle exemptions, an employer parking-lot privacy rule), not general storage requirements.
For adult Georgia firearm owners, storage is a best-practices question backed by civil-negligence exposure, not a criminal-statute question. The Giffords Law Center summary, which has been cited by Georgia courts and the General Assembly as an accurate description of state law, puts it plainly: "Georgia law does not otherwise expressly make it unlawful for an adult to negligently or recklessly leave unsecured firearms, including handguns and long guns, accessible to unsupervised minors."
This section covers what little Georgia law does say, the federal point-of-sale rule, the carve-outs you may encounter at schools and on employer property, and the practical guidance that protects you from theft and civil liability even when the criminal code is silent.
Be deliberate about the absence here. Some of the most common assumptions about Georgia storage law are wrong:
If your audience has come from a state with a CAP law or a mandatory-storage statute (Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, New York, Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, Washington), make this point clearly. Georgia does not import those rules.
The one federal storage rule you will encounter at the gun counter is 18 U.S.C. § 922(z), the Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) lock-with-sale requirement.
Under § 922(z), a federally licensed dealer may not transfer a handgun to a non-licensee unless the dealer also provides a "secure gun storage or safety device" that is suitable for that handgun. In practice, a small cable lock comes in the box with most handguns sold at retail. The federal rule:
Constitutional carry under SB 319 did not change this rule. Federal law is independent of Georgia carry status.
Georgia code does include a few provisions that touch on storage. None of them is a general storage requirement; each is a carve-out from a different prohibition.
§ 16-11-127.1 bars carrying weapons in a "school safety zone," at a school function, or on a school bus. The statute does not regulate how firearms are stored generally; it regulates whether firearms may enter the school-zone perimeter. Two of the carve-outs read like storage rules because they describe a vehicle parked in a school zone:
What these provisions do not do: they do not create a general school-grounds storage rule for the public. They define when a vehicle-borne weapon is exempt from the school-zone weapons ban. If you are not within one of the listed categories (lawful weapons carrier picking up or dropping off a student, an authorized adult, an authorized teacher, or one of the other enumerated exemptions), having a weapon in your locked compartment inside a school safety zone is still unlawful.
Note the trap: § 16-11-127.2 is the nuclear-power-facility statute, not a school-grounds storage statute. It makes it a misdemeanor to carry, possess, or have under your control "a weapon or long gun" on the premises of a nuclear power facility, with limited exemptions for authorized security officers and certain government officials. It is not a storage rule. It is mentioned here only because the number is sometimes confused with § 16-11-127.1; the school-grounds vehicle carve-outs sit in § 16-11-127.1(c), not in § 16-11-127.2.
§ 16-11-135 is sometimes treated as a vehicle-storage statute. It is more precisely a privacy and non-discrimination rule:
The statute's storage-shaped condition (firearm "locked out of sight within the trunk, glove box, or other enclosed compartment") is the price of admission to the parking-lot privilege, not a general storage requirement. § 16-11-135 has its own list of carve-outs (secure parking areas, correctional facilities, electric generation facilities, certain Defense Department contractors, parking lots tied to natural gas, liquid petroleum, water, and law enforcement assets designated as critical infrastructure, and temporary parking). The full vehicle-carry rule sits in O.C.G.A. § 16-11-126; see the Vehicle Carry section for the operative authority.
This is an access-and-transfer statute, not a storage statute, but it is the closest thing Georgia has to a CAP rule. It makes it unlawful for any person to intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly furnish a handgun to a person under 18, subject to multiple exceptions. A parent or legal guardian who knows the minor is engaging in conduct that constitutes unlawful handgun possession and who fails to make reasonable efforts to prevent it may also be criminally liable.
The exceptions tracked by § 16-11-132(c) (the parallel minor-possession statute) preserve handgun access for minors who are:
Parental criminal exposure is heightened under § 16-11-101.1(c)(2) and (c)(3) where the parent or guardian is aware of a substantial risk that the minor will use the handgun to commit a felony, or where the minor has been convicted or adjudicated for a forcible felony or forcible misdemeanor.
These rules do not turn into a general storage requirement. They impose liability on the act of furnishing or permitting, not on the act of leaving a handgun unlocked.
Georgia's firearm preemption statute, O.C.G.A. § 16-11-173, has long been read to bar most local firearm regulation. Whether it bars local storage ordinances was tested in 2025: the City of Savannah enacted an ordinance requiring handguns, rifles, and shotguns to be securely stored if left in unattended vehicles. A Chatham County judge ruled in November 2025 that the Savannah ordinance violates Georgia's preemption framework and is unconstitutional.
In January 2026, the Georgia Senate passed a bill (32-21) on the final day of the prior session that expressly bans local governments from requiring gun owners to lock up firearms in vehicles. The bill went to Gov. Kemp for signature or veto. Carriers should treat any locally enacted gun-storage ordinance as legally dubious; the trend line in Georgia is toward stronger preemption and against any local mandatory-storage rule.
If you instruct in a Georgia jurisdiction that has on its books any storage ordinance enacted before 2026, confirm the current status with the Attorney General's office or the local solicitor before relying on it. The state-level legal direction is consolidating against local storage rules.
Georgia leaves storage to the owner. That does not mean storage decisions are without consequence. Two categories of exposure still apply.
Georgia adult firearm owners can still be sued in tort for negligent storage when a child or other foreseeable third party accesses a firearm and harms someone. There is no statutory rule, but ordinary negligence and premises liability principles apply. A jury can find that leaving a loaded handgun accessible to a young child in your home falls below the standard of care, even though no Georgia statute says so.
If a prohibited person (a convicted felon, an unlawful drug user, a person subject to a qualifying protective order, a person with a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence conviction, or any other person in 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)) lives in your home and has dominion or control over your firearms, federal prosecutors can charge constructive possession by the prohibited person and may charge aiding and abetting against the firearm owner. Locked storage that denies access to the prohibited person is the operative defense.
If you teach students who ask what they should do, the practical advice is consistent with what serious carriers do in every state:
SB 319 (2022) made the Weapons Carry License optional for lawful weapons carriers in most public places. It did not amend any storage provision. It did not create a new safe-storage rule. It did not amend § 16-11-127.1, § 16-11-127.2, § 16-11-132, § 16-11-135, or § 16-11-101.1. Constitutional carry shifted who may carry, not how firearms must be stored.
| Topic | Georgia Rule | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| General mandatory storage | None for adults | n/a |
| Child Access Prevention (CAP) | None | n/a |
| Mandatory locking device with sale (state) | None | n/a |
| Mandatory locking device with sale (federal, FFL handgun) | Required at delivery; use not required | 18 U.S.C. § 922(z) |
| Furnishing a handgun to a minor | Unlawful absent statutory exception | O.C.G.A. § 16-11-101.1; § 16-11-132 |
| Locked vehicle in school zone (pickup/dropoff) | Permitted exception | O.C.G.A. § 16-11-127.1(c)(7), (c)(8) |
| Employer parking-lot locked-vehicle right | Protected; "locked out of sight" required | O.C.G.A. § 16-11-135 |
| Nuclear power facility carry | Prohibited (NOT a storage statute) | O.C.G.A. § 16-11-127.2 |
| Local storage ordinances | Preempted; statewide reinforcement pending | O.C.G.A. § 16-11-173; 2025 Chatham County ruling; 2026 SB |
Georgia treats storage as a private decision. If a student wants a single sentence: "There is no Georgia storage law for adults; lock anyway, because civil liability and theft losses do not need a statute."
This page covers one part of our Georgia concealed carry guide.
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