A closer look at AK-47 laws
Georgia law has restrictions for AK-47’s if they are automatic. If they are not automatic, they are considered a rifle and no restrictions apply.
- An AK-47 is considered to be a long gun or rifle if it has a barrel length of at least 18 inches and an overall length of at least 26 inches and is designed to be fired from the shoulder.
- There is not an age restriction for possession of a rifle or shotgun.
- No permit is required to own a rifle or shotgun under Georgia law.
- A rifle is designated as a machine gun if it is automatic or shoots more than six rounds without manually reloading.
- A machine gun must be registered in Georgia under the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the National Gun Control Act of 1968.
- It is illegal to carry any weapon on school property, including colleges, in Georgia unless an individual falls into an exemption stated in the Georgia code or receives a permit permitted in state code.
- A convicted felon may not possess a firearm of any kind, according to federal law.
Robert Lee, relee@ajc.com
So many bullets and such a powerful rifle.
Police say Michael Brandon Hill had almost 500 rounds and an AK-47 “style” rifle.
Officers descending on Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy Tuesday afternoon could tell by the sound.
“As soon as I heard the gunfire I said ‘yea. This is a high-powered weapon,’” said Investigator T.L. Wortham of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Squad. Police say Hill fired several rounds, at least one inside the school and some outside.
Investigators are still trying to determine how or when Hill got the weapon, but they found a photograph on his cell phone that he took of himself holding it, using a bathroom mirror to capture his pose in front of a shower curtain.
Georgia law mandates a state permit to carry a handgun but there is no such requirement for rifles.
Also, only machine guns are required to be registered in Georgia. A rifle is designated as a machine gun if it is automatic or shoots more than six rounds without manually reloading. Hill had a semi-automatic rifle, which fires one round for each trigger pull, so it did not have to be registered.
So the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has to trace weapons, like the one Hill had, through paper documents that licensed firearms dealers must maintain.
DeKalb Police Chief Cedric Alexander said agents were able to trace the rifle to the dealer who sold it for the first time and then they have to work from there.
The paperwork that the dealer is required to keep listed the name of that first owner of the weapon and from there police were able to trace it to the final owner, an “acquaintance” of Hill, Alexander said Wednesday.
He declined to say how many people might have owned the rifle.
Also it was still not clear if the acquaintance gave Hill the rifle or if he simply took it.
Either way, Hill was not supposed to have a firearm in his possession. He was sentenced to probation last month for a felony conviction, making terroristic threats.
Hill’s family also reported that he had a history of mental illness but that would have prohibited him from having a weapon only if he had been involuntarily committed to a hospital.
Alexander said came with “498 rounds. We have to make a reasonable assumption he was there to do harm… He came there to do one of two things: to do harm to the children or to first responders.”
Though one of the most powerful rifles, three members of the DeKalb Sheriff’s Office fugitive squad, who were among those who went into the school to secure Hill, said they see AK 47s “all the time” when making arrests.
“It’s one of the cheapest assault rifles you can buy,” said Investigator S. Daniels.
ATF records show far more handguns were seized in the U.S. last year than rifles. More than 8,700 handguns were recovered as crime scenes last year while the rifles numbered only 1,528. The number of handguns recovered at crime scenes was essentially the same in 2011 while there were 1,348 rifles seized.
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