Section 38-2-277. Unauthorized military bodies prohibited; exceptions; support by counties or cities prohibited; penalty for membership

   (a) No body of men other than the organized militia, components of the armed forces of the United States, and bodies of the police and state constabulary and such other organizations as may be formed under this chapter shall associate themselves together as a military unit or parade or demonstrate in public with firearms.

(b) Associations wholly comprised of military personnel honorably discharged from the service of the United States and benevolent and secret organizations may parade in public with swords. Students in educational institutions where military science is a prescribed part of the course of instruction may drill or parade with firearms in public under the supervision of their instructors. This Code section shall not be construed to prevent parades in public with firearms by authorized organizations of the organized militia of any other state.

(c) No political subdivision of this state shall raise or appropriate any money toward arming, equipping, uniforming, or in any other way supporting, sustaining, or providing drill rooms or armories for any such unauthorized organizations.

(d) Any person who actively participates in an unauthorized military organization or who parades with any unauthorized body of men as set forth in subsection (a) of this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Ga. L. 1916, p. 158, § 2; Code 1933, § 86-9901; Ga. L. 1951, p. 311, § 49; Ga. L. 1955, p. 10, §§ 84, 109.