Overview
Argentina regulates civilian firearms through a single national framework built on the National Arms and Explosives Law (Ley Nacional de Armas y Explosivos No. 20.429), enacted in 1973, and its principal regulatory decree, Decreto 395/75 of 1975. According to the official normative record maintained by the Argentine government (argentina.gob.ar), Law 20.429 remains the governing national statute and has been repeatedly amended, most recently through decrees issued in 2025 and 2026. Firearms policy is administered centrally by the National Agency for Controlled Materials (Agencia Nacional de Materiales Controlados, ANMaC), the successor to the former National Arms Registry (Registro Nacional de Armas, RENAR).
Under this framework, civilian firearm ownership is lawful but conditioned on registration and individual licensing. No person may lawfully acquire, keep, or use a firearm without first obtaining the status of "legitimate user" (legítimo usuario) and registering each weapon with ANMaC. The law distinguishes several material categories, principally war weapons (armas de guerra), civilian-use weapons (armas de uso civil), and conditional civilian-use weapons (armas de uso civil condicional), with progressively stricter controls for the more powerful categories.
The regulatory regime has undergone significant change. Decreto 397/2025, published in the Boletín Oficial on 18 June 2025, replaced a roughly three-decade prohibition (Decreto 64/1995) on civilian acquisition of certain semi-automatic long guns with a conditional authorization scheme administered by ANMaC. Decreto 409/2025, published the same day, modernized the regulation of Law 20.429, reorganizing the legitimate-user categories and the rules on possession and carrying. According to reporting on the Official Bulletin measure, further reforms were introduced by Decreto 306/2026, published on 4 May 2026, which expanded the list of items prohibited to civilians, moved sound suppressors and night sights into the conditional-use category (usable only at authorized ranges), added competency and fitness certifications for licensing, and simplified registration of inherited firearms.
Because several of these provisions are recent and their administrative implementation through ANMaC is still consolidating, some operational details may change. This article states specific figures only where they were verified against primary or official sources during research. Where a specific could not be verified, the rule is described qualitatively and the uncertainty is noted. Readers seeking to act on any particular point should consult ANMaC and the current text of Law 20.429 and its decrees directly, as gun law in Argentina has been actively amended in 2025 and 2026 and further changes are possible.
Ownership & licensing
Civilian firearm ownership in Argentina is licensed rather than free. According to ANMaC, any activity involving a firearm requires the person first to hold a Legitimate User Credential (Credencial de Legítimo Usuario, CLU/CLUSE). The agency lists the core eligibility conditions as: being of legal majority age; having no disqualifying criminal record, verified through a certificate issued by the National Recidivism Registry (Registro Nacional de Reincidencia); demonstrating lawful means of living; and showing the absence of psychological or physical impediments that would incapacitate the applicant for the possession of firearms. Applicants must also demonstrate competence in the safe handling of firearms, certified on the form generated through the electronic application system. According to ANMaC, the legitimate-user credential is valid for five years and must be renewed within the ninety days preceding its expiry; applications are filed electronically through the agency's official platform.
Holding the credential establishes eligibility; each individual firearm must additionally be registered. Possession authorization (tenencia) is the record that entitles a registered legitimate user to keep a specific, registered weapon, transport it unloaded and separated from its ammunition, and use it for lawful purposes such as sport shooting or hunting. Registration with ANMaC is mandatory, and the state maintains traceability over every legally held weapon.
The law sorts firearms into categories with different treatment. Armas de guerra (war weapons) are the most restricted; armas de uso civil (civilian-use weapons) are those a licensed user may generally hold; and armas de uso civil condicional (conditional civilian-use weapons) require additional justification and controls. Handguns are lawful for licensed users but are among the more closely controlled civilian items, with certain calibers and models falling into the conditional or restricted tiers under the Official Technical Nomenclature referenced by Law 20.429 and Decreto 395/75.
A notable recent shift concerns semi-automatic long guns. According to Decreto 397/2025 (Boletín Oficial, 18 June 2025), the previous blanket prohibition on civilian acquisition and possession of certain semi-automatic weapons derived from military designs — in force under Decreto 64/1995 for about thirty years — was replaced by a special authorization regime. Under that decree, ANMaC may authorize qualified civilian users to acquire and possess such weapons where they demonstrate proven sporting use and satisfy the objective conditions the agency establishes. As a result, such rifles are best described as restricted rather than outright prohibited.
According to reporting on Decreto 306/2026 (published 4 May 2026), licensing and renewal now also require marksmanship-competency certification from registered instructors together with physical and psychological fitness certificates, and the decree simplified the registration of inherited firearms by allowing heirs to register weapons on family documentation while preserving state traceability. Exact numeric thresholds such as magazine-capacity limits were not verified against a primary source during research and are treated here as unknown.
Carry & transport
Argentine law draws a firm line between transporting a firearm and carrying it ready for use, and the two are governed by different authorizations. Possession authorization (tenencia), described by ANMaC and Argentine legal commentary, entitles a registered legitimate user to move a firearm but only in a non-operational state: the weapon must be unloaded and kept separated from its ammunition, and it may be used only for lawful purposes at appropriate places such as authorized ranges or hunting grounds. Mere possession therefore does not, by itself, permit a person to go about armed in public.
Carrying a loaded firearm in a condition of immediate use in a public place is a separate and far more restrictive authorization known as portación (a carry permit). According to Argentine sources describing the regime, portación is the permission to have a loaded firearm ready for immediate use in public, and it is granted only exceptionally. Argentine law does not organize carry around the common-law distinction between open and concealed carry; instead, both are subsumed within the single portación authorization, which is required regardless of whether the weapon is visible or hidden.
The rules on carrying were tightened and reorganized by Decreto 409/2025 (Boletín Oficial, 18 June 2025). According to that decree, portación is structured around distinct regimes: personnel of the armed and security forces may carry approved service weapons; holders of specific functions such as certain aircraft or port positions may be authorized on a case-by-case basis; and other applicants must demonstrate a documented, current security risk, assessed under a restrictive criterion (criterio restrictivo) and subject to annual renewal. In other words, an ordinary civilian seeking a public carry permit must justify a concrete, present need rather than a general desire for self-defense, and any permit granted is time-limited and reviewable.
Decisions on the carrying of war weapons are centralized with ANMaC. According to reporting on Decreto 306/2026 (published 4 May 2026), authorization to carry war-category weapons is possible only within parameters set by the Ministry of Security, evaluated case by case and tied to the validity period of the user's general credential. The same 2026 reform reportedly expanded the categories of items prohibited to civilians altogether, including firearms disguised as other objects, devices that convert semi-automatic weapons to fully automatic fire, short-barreled shotguns, and specified ammunition types (expansive, armor-piercing, explosive, incendiary, and poisoned), none of which may be lawfully possessed or carried by civilians.
Because carrying is treated so restrictively and is administered through discretionary, need-based evaluation, the practical availability of a civilian carry permit is narrow. Where an individual's precise eligibility or the current documentary requirements are concerned, the specifics are best confirmed directly with ANMaC, as the governing decrees were amended in 2025 and 2026 and the administrative criteria continue to be implemented.
Travel & import
The cross-border movement, importation, and exportation of firearms, ammunition, and other controlled materials in Argentina fall within the national control system built on Law 20.429 and administered by ANMaC. As the national authority for controlled materials — the successor body to RENAR — ANMaC is the agency through which authorizations for regulated weapons and their movement are processed, and the general principle of the statute is that controlled materials may not be imported, transferred, or moved without the corresponding authorization and registration.
For residents, the same licensing logic that governs domestic ownership applies to bringing firearms into the country or moving them across borders: a person must be a registered legitimate user, the specific weapon must be registered, and the item itself must fall within a category permitted to civilians. Items that Argentine regulation places outside civilian reach — war weapons without special authorization, and the categories of prohibited materials expanded by Decreto 306/2026 (published 4 May 2026), such as disguised firearms, automatic-conversion devices, short-barreled shotguns, and prohibited ammunition types — cannot be lawfully imported by civilians.
Beyond these general principles, the precise procedures applicable to specific situations — for example, a foreign hunter or competitive shooter temporarily importing a firearm, the documentation and prior permits required, quantity limits on ammunition, and the treatment of firearms carried by travelers in transit — were not established against a primary or official source during this research session. These operational details are administered by ANMaC and, at the border, by customs and security authorities, and they are treated here as unknown pending verification against current official guidance. Prospective travelers should obtain written authorization and current instructions from ANMaC well in advance, since moving a firearm without the correct prior authorization can expose the traveler to the criminal offenses of unlawful possession or carrying described under the Penalties section.
The broader point is that Argentina operates a permission-based rather than a notification-based import system: the default is that a firearm may not cross the border or change hands without an affirmative, documented authorization from the competent national authority. This applies both to permanent importation associated with acquisition and to temporary movement. Because the underlying decrees were amended in 2025 and 2026 and the agency's electronic procedures continue to evolve, the current forms, fees, and timelines are matters to confirm directly with ANMaC rather than to assume from prior practice.
Hunting & sport shooting
Sport shooting and hunting are the principal lawful civilian uses of firearms recognized under Argentina's national arms framework. According to ANMaC and Argentine legal descriptions of the possession regime, a registered legitimate user holding possession authorization (tenencia) may transport a registered firearm — unloaded and separated from its ammunition — and use it for lawful purposes, expressly including target shooting (tiro deportivo) and hunting (caza). Participation in these activities therefore presupposes that the shooter already holds the Legitimate User Credential and has registered the firearm concerned.
Sport shooting occupies a central place in the recent liberalization of the rules on semi-automatic long guns. According to Decreto 397/2025 (Boletín Oficial, 18 June 2025), the prior prohibition on civilian acquisition of certain semi-automatic weapons was replaced by a special authorization scheme under which ANMaC may permit qualified users to acquire and possess such firearms specifically where they can demonstrate proven sporting use (usos deportivos) and meet the objective conditions the agency sets. Sporting justification is thus the gateway through which these previously banned firearms re-entered lawful civilian channels, and the authorization is conditioned on that demonstrated purpose rather than being available on demand.
The 2025 and 2026 reforms also reshaped what equipment sport shooters may use. According to reporting on Decreto 306/2026 (published 4 May 2026) and on the reorganized conditional-use category, items such as sound suppressors (moderadores de sonido) and night sights designed for aiming in darkness were moved into the conditional civilian-use category, permitted for use at authorized ranges or enabled premises rather than for general carry. This ties certain accessories to controlled shooting environments and keeps them outside ordinary public use.
Hunting, by contrast, is not governed solely by the national arms law. In Argentina, wildlife and hunting management is primarily a provincial competence: each province regulates seasons, licenses, permitted species, protected areas, and bag limits through its own conservation and fauna authorities, subject to national environmental framework legislation. As a result, a hunter must satisfy two distinct layers of requirements — the national firearms rules administered by ANMaC (legitimate-user status, registration, and lawful transport of the firearm) and the province-specific hunting license and regulations applicable where the hunting takes place. The precise hunting rules therefore vary by jurisdiction and are set by provincial law rather than by Law 20.429; the specific provincial requirements were not verified against primary sources during this research session and should be confirmed with the relevant provincial authority.
Organized sport shooting typically takes place at ANMaC-recognized clubs and ranges, which also serve as the venues where conditional-use materials may lawfully be employed. Because the firearms categories, permitted accessories, and authorization criteria were amended in 2025 and 2026, competitors and hunters should confirm the current national requirements with ANMaC and the applicable provincial hunting authority before acquiring firearms or participating in regulated activities.
Penalties
Unlawful dealings with firearms in Argentina are prosecuted principally under the national Criminal Code (Código Penal), in addition to the administrative sanctions regime that Decreto 395/75 establishes for infractions of the arms law. The Criminal Code provision governing unlawful possession and carrying distinguishes sharply between mere possession (tenencia) and carrying ready for use (portación), and between civilian-use and war weapons, with penalties escalating according to the category of weapon and the nature of the conduct.
According to the current text of Article 189 bis of the Criminal Code (as amended by Law 25.886), verified against the published article during this research, the simple possession of civilian-use firearms without lawful authorization is punishable by imprisonment of six months to two years together with a fine. Where the weapon possessed is a war weapon, the same article provides a heavier penalty of two to six years of imprisonment. Carrying is treated more severely than possession: unlawfully carrying a civilian-use firearm is punishable by one to four years of imprisonment, while carrying a war weapon without authorization carries a penalty of three years and six months to eight years and six months of imprisonment.
The article also contains modulating provisions. According to the same verified text, where the person carrying a firearm is in fact a registered authorized holder of that weapon — that is, someone whose paperwork is deficient rather than someone with no title at all — the applicable penalty scale is reduced by one third of both its minimum and its maximum. The provision further allows a court, in defined circumstances that show an evident lack of intent to use the weapon for unlawful ends, to apply a reduced response. These features mean that the consequences of an offense depend heavily on the offender's licensing status and the specific facts, not merely on the act of possession or carrying in the abstract.
Beyond these core figures, Article 189 bis and related provisions address a range of aggravated and connected conduct — including illicit manufacture, assembly, alteration, supply, and trafficking of weapons — for which penalties are more severe, and the law also provides for accessory disqualification measures. Because this article states verified ranges only for the core possession and carrying offenses, the penalties for these other, more serious offenses are described here only qualitatively: they scale upward with the gravity of the conduct and the danger of the weapon involved. On the administrative side, ANMaC and the regime under Decreto 395/75 can impose sanctions such as fines and the seizure of weapons for regulatory breaches independently of any criminal prosecution.
Because the arms framework was amended by decree in 2025 and 2026 and criminal provisions can themselves be revised, anyone assessing exposure to penalties for a specific situation should consult the current consolidated text of the Criminal Code and Law 20.429 and seek qualified legal advice rather than relying on general figures.
Sources
- Ley 20.429 — Ley Nacional de Armas y Explosivos (official normative record, argentina.gob.ar) (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Decreto 397/2025 — modification of the semi-automatic weapons regime (Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina) (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Decreto 409/2025 — Modificación de la Reglamentación de la Ley 20.429 (Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina) (accessed 2026-07-17)
- ANMaC — Registro Nacional de Armas: legitimate-user requirements (official) (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Clasificación de armas de fuego de uso civil — RENAR/ANMaC (argentina.gob.ar, official) (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Artículo 189 bis del Código Penal argentino (current text, Legislación Argentina 2026) (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Infobae — reforms to the civilian arms regime, Decreto 306/2026 (4 May 2026) (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Infobae — regulation of civilian semi-automatic weapons for sporting activities (18 June 2025) (accessed 2026-07-17)