Georgia Governor Nathan Deal today signed HB 292 that includes the language from Knife Rights’ Georgia Knife Law Reform bill, SB 49. This new law increases the legal carry length of a knife blade in the state from 5 inches to 12 inches (see Section 3 of HB 292).
The new 12-inch length limit was effective immediately upon signing. Having enacted Knife Rights’ signature Knife Law Preemption in Georgia in 2012, any lesser length restrictions in cities and towns are now voided and local jurisdictions cannot enact prohibitions more restrictive than the new state law. Georgia CCW holders do not have any restrictions on carry length.
With Blade Show coming up June 2-4, attendees and exhibitors will have more freedom to carry their larger knives without fear of legal entanglements.
We would like thank our sponsor, Senator Bill Heath, for his tenacity in working to get this done this session. Sen. Heath was also the sponsor of our Knife Law Preemption bill in 2012. We’d also like to express our appreciation to our friends at NRA-ILA for their support.
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.
Knife Rights is Rewriting Knife Law in America™, eliminating knife bans directly or via Knife Law Preemption in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.