Georgia Carrying Under the Influence Laws

The Headline

Georgia has no statute that prohibits "carrying while under the influence" of alcohol or drugs. The closest statute, O.C.G.A. § 16-11-134, prohibits discharging a firearm while under the influence. It does not criminalize mere possession or carry while intoxicated. Federal law, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), separately prohibits firearm possession by any "unlawful user of or addicted to" a controlled substance, and that federal rule reaches Georgia carriers regardless of state silence.

For a Georgia weapons carry license (WCL) holder or a constitutional-carry-eligible "lawful weapons carrier," the practical rule: nothing in Georgia criminal code makes it an offense to have a firearm on you while you have alcohol in your bloodstream. If you fire that firearm at the wrong BAC, or fire it while impaired by drugs, you commit a separate offense under § 16-11-134, with one statutory carve-out (defense of life, health, and property). And if you are an unlawful drug user under federal law, you have a federal firearm-possession problem regardless of whether you have consumed anything that day.

What § 16-11-134 Actually Prohibits

O.C.G.A. § 16-11-134 is titled "Discharging Firearm While Under the Influence of Alcohol or Drugs." The operative word is discharging. The statute reaches firing a gun while impaired, not carrying one. The Georgia Code text:

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to discharge a firearm while:

(1) Under the influence of alcohol or any drug or any combination of alcohol and any drug to the extent that it is unsafe for the person to discharge such firearm except in the defense of life, health, and property;

(2) The person's alcohol concentration is 0.08 grams or more at any time while discharging such firearm or within three hours after such discharge of such firearm from alcohol consumed before such discharge ended; or

(3) Subject to the provisions of subsection (b) of this Code section, there is any amount of marijuana or a controlled substance, as defined in Code Section 16-13-21, present in the person's blood or urine, or both, including the metabolites and derivatives of each or both without regard to whether or not any alcohol is present in the person's breath or blood.

Three independent triggers. Any one is enough:

1. Functional impairment. You discharge a firearm while alcohol, drugs, or a combination has rendered it unsafe for you to do so.
2. Per se BAC. Your blood-alcohol concentration is 0.08 g or higher at the time of discharge, or within three hours after discharge from alcohol consumed before you fired. The three-hour back-test mirrors Georgia's DUI per se rule and defeats the "I sobered up before they tested me" defense.
3. Any-amount marijuana or controlled substance. Any detectable amount of marijuana or a Schedule I-V controlled substance (or its metabolites) in your blood or urine, with or without alcohol on board, is sufficient. This is a zero-tolerance rule for illegal-drug metabolites.

The defense-of-life carve-out

§ 16-11-134(a)(1) excepts discharge "in the defense of life, health, and property." If you fire in self-defense, defense of another person, or in defense of property, the impaired-discharge prohibition under subsection (a)(1) does not apply. Two cautions:

• The carve-out is written only into the impairment prong, (a)(1). Subsections (a)(2) and (a)(3) (the per se 0.08 BAC rule and the any-amount drug rule) do not repeat it. A prosecutor could argue those prongs apply even to a self-defense discharge, though the broader Georgia justification framework at § 16-3-21 and § 16-3-23.1 protects the use of force itself.
• The carve-out is a defense to the impaired-discharge offense, not to anything else. Negligent use or unlawful aggression remain prosecutable on their own.

Legally-entitled-to-use carve-out for non-alcohol drugs

§ 16-11-134(b) addresses prescription medication and other lawful drug use:

The fact that any person charged with violating this Code section is or has been legally entitled to use a drug shall not constitute a defense against any charge of violating this Code section; provided, however, that such person shall not be in violation of this Code section unless such person is rendered incapable of possessing or discharging a firearm safely as a result of using a drug other than alcohol which such person is legally entitled to use.

In plain language: a valid prescription is not an automatic defense, but if you are lawfully entitled to use a drug you only violate the statute if that drug actually rendered you unable to handle or fire the gun safely. This shields the patient on prescribed antidepressants or pain medication who has not been functionally impaired; it does not shield the recreational user.

Penalty grade

§ 16-11-134(c) grades the offense: "Any person convicted of violating subsection (a) of this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature."

"Misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature" is the most serious misdemeanor grade in Georgia. Under O.C.G.A. § 17-10-4 it carries a maximum 12-month jail sentence and a $5,000 fine (vs. $1,000 for an ordinary misdemeanor). It is not a felony, so it does not automatically trigger the felon-in-possession prohibition at § 16-11-131, but it will appear on a background check and may affect future WCL eligibility.

What § 16-11-134 Is NOT

Four things § 16-11-134 does not do:

• It is not a "carry while drinking" prohibition. Mere possession of a firearm while consuming alcohol, or while alcohol is in your system, is not an offense under § 16-11-134. The discharge is the offense.
• It is not a "no firearm in a bar" rule. Where firearms may be carried in establishments that serve alcohol is governed by § 16-11-127 and the owner-consent framework. See PROHIBITED_PLACES for the bar/restaurant analysis.
• It is not a zero-BAC rule for armed persons. Georgia code does not establish a "no measurable alcohol" threshold for a person who is merely carrying. The 0.08 trigger in (a)(2) applies only to discharge.
• It is not a backdoor field-sobriety law for carriers. Chemical testing requires the implied-consent predicates that ordinarily attach (typically a DUI traffic stop or post-discharge investigation under § 16-11-134 itself).

Federal Law Fills One Major Gap: 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3)

While Georgia is silent on possession-while-using, federal law is not. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) makes it unlawful for any person "who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802))" to possess any firearm or ammunition. The federal statute uses an open-ended "unlawful user" standard rather than a per se BAC or metabolite trigger, and ATF has historically read it to reach any pattern of recent or regular use.

Three points every Georgia carrier should understand:

1. Marijuana use, even where state-legal, is still federally unlawful use. Marijuana remains a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law. ATF Form 4473 asks the buyer to certify that they are not "an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance." A "no" by a marijuana user is a separate federal felony (false statement to a federal firearms licensee). Georgia's medical low-THC oil program does not change this analysis.
2. Recent post-Bruen case law has narrowed § 922(g)(3) in some circuits but not the Eleventh. The Fifth Circuit's 2024 decision in United States v. Daniels held that the categorical "unlawful user" prohibition cannot be applied to a non-violent marijuana user who was not intoxicated at the moment of possession. The Eleventh Circuit, which covers Georgia, has not adopted that limitation. A Georgia carrier who is a regular marijuana user, even with a Georgia low-THC card, remains exposed to federal prosecution under controlling Eleventh Circuit precedent.
3. WCL eligibility echoes the federal rule. Under O.C.G.A. § 16-11-129, an applicant who is a "current user" of a controlled substance in a manner other than as prescribed is disqualified. The Clayton County Probate Court federal eligibility summary explains: "A person who uses a controlled substance and has lost the power of self-control with reference to the use of the controlled substance or any person who is a current user of a controlled substance in a manner other than as prescribed by a licensed physician is prohibited from receiving a license."

Where Private Property Rules Fill the Other Gap

§ 16-11-127 does not impose a blanket bar on firearms in establishments that serve alcohol, but it respects private property owners' decisions. In an establishment licensed to serve alcohol for on-premises consumption, the property owner or person in legal control can communicate a no-firearms rule, and a carrier who is asked to leave commits criminal trespass under § 16-7-21 if they refuse. The detailed analysis lives in the PROHIBITED_PLACES section; the consequence for under-the-influence is that the practical carry-while-drinking rule in Georgia is most often set by the bar or restaurant, not by the criminal code.

Georgia does not have the kind of statutory "50/50 rule" some states use (where carry is restricted in venues that derive more than half their revenue from alcohol). The question is simply whether the owner consents.

DUI and Firearm Rights

A Georgia DUI arrest does not automatically forfeit firearm rights. A first or second DUI is a misdemeanor and does not trigger the state felon-in-possession statute at § 16-11-131 or the federal prohibition at 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). However:

• A fourth-or-subsequent DUI within ten years is a felony under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-391(c) and triggers both state and federal felon-in-possession prohibitions.
• The WCL statute disqualifies an applicant who has been "in a mental hospital or drug or alcohol treatment center within the last 5 years," per the Georgia.gov apply-firearms-license guidance. A treatment-center stay following a DUI can reach back into eligibility.

Practical Guidance

Statutorily, you can carry in Georgia with alcohol on board. Practically, every responsible firearms instructor teaches the opposite: do not carry while drinking. The reasoning is operational, not legal.

• A defensive discharge while you have any BAC opens you to a § 16-11-134 charge if the prosecutor disputes the defense-of-life carve-out. The carve-out is a defense at trial, not a shield against arrest.
• Impaired judgment is the single largest factor in negligent discharges and escalation of verbal disputes.
• Civil liability for a discharge while impaired is qualitatively worse than for a sober discharge. Any measurable BAC supports a gross-negligence theory and punitive damages.

The Georgia firearms-instructor consensus is to treat the decision to consume alcohol as the decision to disarm. There is no statutory threshold to track because the discharge offense reaches discharges that occur after you have stopped drinking but still test positive within three hours.

What Constitutional Carry Did and Did Not Change

SB 319 (2022), Georgia's constitutional carry act, did not amend § 16-11-134. The discharge prohibition applies identically to a WCL holder, a "lawful weapons carrier," and a non-licensed person carrying unlawfully. The eligibility framework at § 16-11-125.1 incorporates federal § 922(g) prohibitions, so an "unlawful user" of a controlled substance is not a lawful weapons carrier and forfeits the constitutional-carry privilege.

Quick Reference

Bottom Line

Georgia criminalizes the discharge, not the carry, of a firearm under the influence. § 16-11-134 sets a 0.08 BAC discharge threshold, an any-amount drug-metabolite rule, and an impairment standard, all backed by a misdemeanor-of-a-high-and-aggravated-nature grade. Federal § 922(g)(3) comes closest to a true possession-while-using prohibition and reaches marijuana users in the Eleventh Circuit. Responsible carriers treat the decision to drink as the decision to disarm.