How to Get a Concealed Carry Permit in Georgia (2026)

Georgia does not issue a "concealed carry permit." It issues a Weapons Carry License, usually shortened to WCL, and it does not come from a state agency. You get it from the probate court of the county where you live.

Georgia has allowed permitless carry since the Constitutional Carry Act took effect in 2022. The Weapons Carry License is still issued, still widely held, and still useful — and whether you legally need one to carry in Georgia is covered in our guide to Georgia gun laws.

This guide covers Georgia's process: who qualifies, whether you need training, what it actually costs, where you go, how long it takes, how renewal works, and why a lot of Georgians still carry a license they are not required to have. If you are comparing states, start with our national guide to getting a concealed carry permit.

How do you get a concealed carry permit in Georgia?

To get a Georgia Weapons Carry License:

1. Confirm you are eligible — 21 or older, a U.S. citizen or lawful resident, and domiciled in the county where you plan to apply.
2. Start the application online. Most counties use the statewide preliminary application portal at georgiaprobaterecords.com, which covers all 159 counties through a county selector.
3. Appear in person at your county probate court to sign the application under oath, give a specimen signature, and have your photograph taken.
4. Get fingerprinted within five business days of filing. Miss that window and the application is administratively dismissed — you start over and pay the fees again.
5. Pay the fee — commonly $72 to $77 for a new license, set locally.
6. Wait for the background check. Once the probate judge receives the law enforcement report, O.C.G.A. § 16-11-129 requires the judge to issue or deny the license within ten days.

The part that surprises most first-time applicants is the structure. There is no state licensing office in Georgia. All 159 county probate courts run their own process under the same statute, which means the law is uniform but the counter experience is not. Fees, appointment practice, fingerprinting hours, and how the license is delivered all vary from county to county.

Who is eligible for a Georgia weapons carry license?

To qualify for a Georgia WCL, you must be 21 or older, domiciled in the county where you apply, a U.S. citizen or lawful resident, and not disqualified under state or federal law.

Georgia does not issue non-resident licenses. The statute limits issuance to a person whose domicile is in that county, with one narrow exception: active-duty armed forces personnel stationed in Georgia who are not Georgia domiciliaries may apply in the county where they are stationed.

Can an 18-year-old get a weapons carry license in Georgia?

Only with qualifying military service. Georgia issues a WCL to an applicant aged 18 to 20 who provides proof of completing basic training in the U.S. armed forces along with proof of active service or an honorable discharge. Everyone else waits until 21.

That rule has been litigated twice, and the results point in different directions:

• On May 28, 2025, the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously upheld the 21-and-over requirement for carrying a handgun in public against a state constitutional challenge.
• On July 24, 2026, the Eleventh Circuit vacated the dismissal of a separate federal Second Amendment challenge, Georgia Second Amendment, Inc. v. Governor of Georgia, and sent it back to the district court to reconsider in light of intervening decisions.

So the federal case is alive again. But the law today is 21, and an applicant under 21 without qualifying military service will be denied. If that changes, it will change through the district court on remand — not at the probate counter.

What disqualifies you

O.C.G.A. § 16-11-129 sets the disqualifiers. They generally include:

• Felony convictions, and certain pending felony charges
• Certain controlled substance convictions within the statutory lookback period
• Inpatient treatment for mental health or substance abuse within the preceding five years
• Other prohibitions under state or federal law

These are the statutory requirements, not an assessment of any individual application. If your record includes an arrest, the court will generally want certified documentation showing how the case was resolved.

Do you need a class or training for a Georgia weapons carry license?

No. Georgia's licensing statute contains no training requirement and no live-fire requirement. You do not take a class, you do not shoot a qualification course, and you do not submit a certificate.

The question keeps coming up anyway, for four reasons:

• Most states that issue permits do require training, so the assumption travels with people who move here or read national guides.
• Georgia instructors legitimately advertise concealed carry classes. Those classes are useful. They are simply not a legal prerequisite for a Georgia WCL.
• Some Georgians hold non-resident permits from other states for reciprocity purposes, and several of those states do require training. That is where a lot of the confusion starts.
• Georgia's prohibited-locations rules are where most lawful carriers actually run into trouble, and a good class covers them faster than reading the code section.

If you want the training anyway — and there are good reasons to — here is what to expect from a concealed carry class.

How much does a Georgia weapons carry license cost?

The statute sets the probate court's fee at $30.00, plus a $5.00 fingerprinting fee. What you actually pay at the counter is higher, because counties package the fingerprinting and background check into one price.

Card processing surcharges are common — Gwinnett adds 2.5% per transaction — and fees are generally nonrefundable whether or not the license is issued. There is no single statewide price. Check your own county's published fee schedule before you go, because county schedules change without notice.

Where do you apply for a Georgia weapons carry license?

Your county probate court, and only your county probate court. There is no state licensing agency, and there is no way to apply in a county you do not live in.

The process breaks into three parts:

Start online. The statewide portal at georgiaprobaterecords.com carries a preliminary weapons carry license application with a county selector covering all 159 counties. Filing there gets your information into the system before you arrive. Some counties also run their own online intake.

Finish in person. You have to appear at the probate court to sign the application under oath, provide a specimen signature, and have your photo taken. Practice varies by county: some require an appointment booked online and turn away walk-ins, while others — Hall County, for example — take applicants in person during posted hours and scan fingerprints in-house from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Get fingerprinted. Depending on the county, prints are taken at the court itself, at an approved fingerprint vendor, or at a law enforcement agency — and they have to be done within five business days of filing.

Those county differences are the point. Before you make the trip, pull up your own probate court's weapons carry license page and confirm hours, appointment rules, accepted payment, and where prints are taken.

How long does it take to get a weapons carry license in Georgia?

Two different clocks apply here, and both are real.

The statutory clock: under O.C.G.A. § 16-11-129, the probate judge must issue or deny the license within ten days of receiving the law enforcement report on the applicant.

The practical clock: that ten-day window does not start until the background check comes back. Georgia.gov describes the law enforcement background check as taking roughly 30 days. Hall County Probate Court publishes a minimum of three weeks and up to about six weeks end to end, counting processing, printing, and shipping. Three to six weeks is a fair expectation statewide.

Most delays trace back to one of four things:

• Missing the five-business-day fingerprint window, which triggers an automatic administrative dismissal
• Applying in the wrong county
• An ID showing a P.O. box without separate proof of residence
• An arrest on the record without certified court documents showing the disposition

How do you renew a Georgia weapons carry license?

A Georgia WCL is valid for five years. An application counts as a renewal if you file it with 90 or fewer days remaining before expiration, or within 30 days after the license has expired. Renewal is $30, no new fingerprints are required in most counties, and no training is required — because none was required in the first place.

Past 30 days expired, it is no longer a renewal. It is a new application at the full price.

What is a Georgia temporary renewal license?

A Georgia temporary renewal license is a $1.00 paper receipt the probate court issues when you apply for renewal, valid for 90 days from the date of issue. It shows your name, address, sex, age, and race, and under O.C.G.A. § 16-11-129(i) it is valid in the same manner and for the same purposes as a five-year license when you carry it together with your previous license.

It exists for one reason: so a renewal sitting in the background check queue never leaves a licensed Georgian carrying without a license. For a dollar, it closes the gap. Ask for it when you file the renewal — plenty of applicants never hear it mentioned.

One important limit. A temporary renewal license is not a substitute for a background check at a gun store. The ATF's Permanent Brady Permit Chart, updated June 18, 2026, lists the Georgia Weapons Carry License as a qualifying alternative to the federal NICS check at the point of sale, and expressly lists the Georgia Temporary Renewal License as not qualifying, because no NICS check is run before it is issued. So the $1 receipt keeps you carrying lawfully. It does not get you through a purchase without a background check.

Is a Georgia weapons carry license still worth getting under permitless carry?

For most people who carry regularly, yes — but not because Georgia requires it. Georgia does not. The license earns its keep in the places permitless carry does not reach.

• Reciprocity. The Georgia Attorney General publishes a formal list of states that recognize a Georgia WCL, currently around 30 states. Permitless carry status is not portable; it stops at the state line. The AG's list also carries a caveat worth reading twice: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Virginia, and Wisconsin recognize only Georgia licenses issued to persons 21 or older. Check our reciprocity map before any trip, since recognition changes.
• Two numbers, two questions. The AG's formal recognition list and the practical count of states where a Georgian may lawfully carry are different numbers, and both are correct. The practical count is larger, because permitless-carry states require no license from anyone. The formal list answers "which states honor my Georgia license." The larger count answers "where can I carry." Know which one you are reading.
• Firearm purchases. Per the ATF chart above, a Georgia WCL qualifies as an alternative to the point-of-sale NICS check. That is a concrete, repeated convenience at the gun counter that permitless carry does not confer.
• The 18–20 pathway. For qualifying service members, the WCL is the only route to lawful public carry under 21, and the document that proves it.
• Documentation. A license is a state-issued record that the holder cleared a background check. It is not a legal defense and it is not a shield. It is a verifiable fact about you, dated before anything happened.

The honest counterweight: it costs about $72 to $77, it takes three to six weeks, you have to show up in person during business hours in your own county, and Georgia does not require it to carry concealed inside Georgia. If you never leave the state and never buy from a dealer, the practical case is thinner. That is a real trade-off, and it is yours to make.

A license is permission to carry. It is not protection after you use a firearm to defend yourself. The legal costs of a self-defense incident begin the moment police arrive — licensed or not — and they can continue through a criminal investigation and a civil lawsuit long after.

A Right To Bear membership includes CCW insurance, covering attorney fees for criminal and civil defense arising from a lawful act of self-defense, subject to the applicable policy terms, conditions, exclusions, and membership terms.

Frequently asked questions

Do you need a permit to carry a concealed firearm in Georgia?

No. Georgia has allowed permitless carry since 2022 for adults who are legally eligible to possess a firearm. A Weapons Carry License remains available and remains useful, particularly for travel and firearm purchases. Our guide to Georgia gun laws covers where and how you can carry in the state.

How much does a Georgia weapons carry license cost?

The statute sets a $30.00 application fee plus a $5.00 fingerprinting fee, but counties package fingerprinting and the background check into a single price. Expect roughly $72 to $77 for a new license — $72 in Gwinnett County, $77 in Hall County — plus any card processing surcharge. Renewal is $30. Fees are set locally and are generally nonrefundable.

How long is a Georgia weapons carry license valid?

A Georgia WCL is valid for five years from the date it is issued. You can file a renewal with 90 or fewer days left before expiration, or within 30 days after it expires. Past 30 days expired, Georgia treats it as a new application rather than a renewal, at full price.

Do you have to take a class to get a weapons carry license in Georgia?

No. Georgia's licensing statute has no training or live-fire requirement, for either a new license or a renewal. Firearms classes are widely available in Georgia and are worth taking, especially for learning where carry is prohibited — but they are not a legal prerequisite for a Georgia Weapons Carry License.

Can an 18-year-old get a weapons carry license in Georgia?

Only with qualifying military service. Georgia issues a WCL to applicants aged 18 to 20 who show proof of completed basic training in the U.S. armed forces plus proof of active service or an honorable discharge. The Georgia Supreme Court upheld the 21-and-over rule in 2025, and a federal challenge was revived by the Eleventh Circuit in July 2026 and is pending.

Can a non-resident get a Georgia weapons carry license?

No. Georgia issues Weapons Carry Licenses only to applicants domiciled in the county where they apply. The one exception is active-duty armed forces personnel stationed in Georgia who are not Georgia domiciliaries. Non-residents who want to carry in Georgia rely on reciprocity through a license their home state issues.

What is a Georgia temporary renewal license, and does it work at a gun store?

It is a $1.00 paper receipt issued when you apply to renew, valid 90 days, and carried with your previous license it works like a five-year license for carry purposes. It does not work at a gun store. The ATF's Brady Permit Chart lists the temporary renewal license as not qualifying as an alternative to a NICS check, because no background check is run before it is issued.