By a vote of 37 to 16, the Georgia Senate has passed HB 292 that includes the language from Knife Rights’ Georgia Knife Law Reform bill, SB 49. This would increase the legal carry length of a knife blade in the state from 5 inches to 12 inches (see Section 3 of HB 292). HB 292 is this year’s “omnibus” gun bill in Georgia which had previously passed in the House. It was amended in the Senate, including the addition of our language, and now goes back to the House for a concurrence vote. That is not expected to be a problem.
We would like to again recognize our sponsor, Senator Bill Heath, for his tenacity in working to get this done this session and we’d also like to again thank our friends at NRA-ILA for their assistance.
Efforts to completely eliminate the carry length limit have been stymied due to the manner in which a knife is defined in Georgia law. This will make life much better for knife owners in Georgia without hampering future efforts to completely eliminate the carry length limit at some future opportunity.