Can my choice of ammo land me in jail? What ammo is prohibited by federal law? What ammo is prohibited by state law? If you use self-defense ammo like Talons (for instance, jacketed hollow points), are you more liable? Well, let’s talk first about the types of restricted ammo in Georgia. This is a quick conversation because there are no real restrictions on the purchase, possession, or sale of any particular type of ammunition by Georgia law. There are some restrictions on what you can use for large game hunting. They must be at least .22 caliber or higher but there’s no law about what is or is not legal with respect to ammo.
You can purchase and possess virtually any type of ammunition under state law. Now, under federal law armor piercing ammunition is the only ammo that has explicit prohibitions. As I said, there’s virtually no regulation of ammunition under Georgia law. Now, we’ll discuss in a later video exactly what armor piercing ammo is, but for our purposes it’s the only type of ammo that has those prohibitions and ironically possession of armor piercing ammunition is itself not necessarily unlawful but obtaining armor piercing ammunition without violating federal law is practically impossible.
Potential Liability
You can use whatever you want in your handgun or your rifle. Now, what if you use self-defense ammo? Are you considered more liable? Will prosecutors attempt to use this against you? It’s quite possible that they would. Remember, every fact in every situation can be used for you or against you. So if you use a jacketed hollow point versus a full metal jacketed ammo, prosecutors may want to use that against you.
Prosecutors can sometimes use terminology like that to inflame and incite the senses of juries, which means that if you use jacketed hollow point ammunition, yes, that fact could be used against you. But it’s the same situation you might find yourself in if you used a .45 or a .44 Magnum as opposed to a 9mm or a .22. It’s the same situation you might find yourself in if you shot seven times versus one time.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you shoot and kill someone in self-defense with one shot, the prosecutor could call you a scout sniper. If you use five shots, the prosecutor could say that you were out for bloodlust. So every fact can be used both for you and against you. Can the fact that you use jacketed hollow point ammunition be used against you? Absolutely. So can the caliber of your weapon, the type of weapon, when you used it, how you used it and how many times. So that mere fact alone may not be enough, but it’s something that can be used against you. Now, does that mean you should not protect yourself? Absolutely not. Do what you can to protect yourself and protect your family and if you have to act in self-defense, make sure you have an attorney who can assist you.
The post Can My Choice of Ammo Land Me in a Georgia Jail Cell? appeared first on U.S. & Texas LawShield.