I don't own any of these but I came across something about them and tried to look up their legality in Georgia.

Seems like every source I found had conflicting information on carrying them.  Some said they are legal, most said they are illegal and a couple sites said they are legal to carry but it's illegal to use them.  Nobody had any qualifiers like it's legal to use in self defense, just that they are illegal to use.

Does anyone know the actual law?

I was amazed how many law firm websites that had straight up lies in their information about what's legal and what's not.  More than one law firm said it was illegal to own assault rifles, short barrel rifles, switchblade knives and silencers as well as the knuckles.  None of them said anything about being legal with government tax stamps, just that they were illegal period.  Pretty skeezy but then we're talking about lawyers here.  No offense to any of you that are lawyers

Obviously you shouldn't get your legal information from a lawyers website (how ironic) but I have no doubt there are people who do and believe what they read there.

JLW would be my goto

Googling OCGA & brass knuckles came up this link....https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2006/16/16-11-126.html

Honestly can't think of a situation where you could legally use knucks. Without digging too deep into it, it appears you'd be facing, at a minimum, an aggravated assault charge for actually using them on anyone...unless you could somehow convince the DA/judge/jury that you were using them in self defense.

I could be wrong, though.

We'll see if JLW weighs in on this discussion.

While I don't think they should be illegal, I also don't see any real world self defense use for them.  Seems more like a Hollywood thing than a real world thing.  At least in the law abiding community.

I saw some TV show or movie where someone was using them and it made me curious about their legality here.  I always find it interesting the things that one state allows or doesn't allow vs another state.

I am prohibited from giving legal advice, but you are correct that Googling leads you to the link that you cited.  It is an older version of the law and is not the current version of O.C.G.A. Section 16-11-126.

The current version appears to be HERE.

I Did Not Say This - I Am Not Here

Thanks,

That applies to firearms so there must be another section that deals with other weapons.  I'll have to look around that site and see if I can find it.

My apologies.  I didn't see that I had been tagged into this thread.

In years past, state law specifically addressed such items.  Ironically, one could obtain a carry license and legally carry a firearm but could be arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned for carrying something such as brass knuckles or a sap.

In one of the recent revisions, such items were removed from the state law; HOWEVER, they are still prohibited in school safety zones and possibly by local ordinances.  The GWCL only covers the items specifically listed in the law, and the state preemption statute prevents local governments from regulating the carry of those items, but it doesn't prohibit local governments from regulating items the state law(s) doesn't specifically address.

Unless I have missed something, they are fine under state law.

Sooooo we can carry knucks with or without a permit? I mean, I have no desire to get into handsy fight, but if it does come to that the Antif...I mean criminal is going to pay dearly Since we can't shoot them and all that.

You may want to read what I wrote again.  State law may be silent on them, but that doesn't mean you won't run into problems with local ordinances.

So they basically keep it vague so you never really know the legality of your actions and are therefore less likely to engage in those actions without the state actually specifically banning them.  At least that's how it seems.

Oklahoma was bad about those kinds of laws up until recently.  They finally started clarifying all the vagueness because of complaints.

Isnt' that the purpose of laws? Keep it vague so you never know. I say "Leave no witnesses".

They've been fine for quite awhile, pretty sure that was a GA Carry bill from around 6-8 years ago.

ETA: More like 10 years.