Gwinnett County, GA Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Gwinnett County's disorderly conduct ordinance bars anyone, including a business patron, from possessing alcohol or appearing to drink it on the premises of a business not licensed as a retail consumption dealer, a rule the code explicitly extends to shopping center parking lots and fast-food restaurant lots, not just bars. It sits inside the county's general disorderly conduct section alongside public intoxication and breach-of-peace offenses. Violations carry the county's general penalty: a fine of $100 to $1,000, up to 60 days in jail, or both. The rule applies only in unincorporated Gwinnett, each of the county's sixteen cities, including Lawrenceville and Duluth, enforces its own separate open-container ordinance.