Overview
Colombia operates a restrictive, permission-based firearms regime built on the constitutional principle that the State holds a monopoly over arms. The private manufacture, ownership, carrying and trade of weapons is the exception rather than the right, and civilians may possess or carry firearms only through a permit granted at the discretion of the competent military authority. The governing framework is the Decreto-Ley 2535 de 1993, the Estatuto de armas, municiones y explosivos, which remains in force in 2026 and sets out weapon classifications, permit types, issuing authorities, import and export controls, and the rules for seizure and confiscation.
According to the Decreto 2535 de 1993, individuals may "exceptionally" hold or carry firearms and ammunition only with a permit issued on the basis of the discretionary power of the competent authority. State-owned Industria Militar (Indumil), under the Ministry of Defence, is the country's sole legal manufacturer of firearms and ammunition, and permits are administered through the military's arms-trade control apparatus rather than a civilian agency. This structure means there is no over-the-counter civilian firearms market; lawful acquisition passes through the State.
The statute distinguishes two core authorisations: the permiso de tenencia (a possession permit tying a registered weapon to a specific fixed address, typically for home defence) and the permiso de porte (a carry permit allowing the holder to bear the weapon outside that address). The Decreto 2535 de 1993 requires that a carry permit be justified by demonstrable, verifiable risk, making carry substantially harder to obtain than possession.
Since 2016, successive governments have layered a nationwide administrative suspension on top of the statute, temporarily halting the general issuance and validity of civilian carry permits. The most recent extension, Decreto 1482 de 2025, prolongs this general suspension across the entire national territory from 1 January to 31 December 2026, subject to a limited set of exceptions. As a result, while the underlying law still contemplates civilian carry, in practice ordinary civilians cannot lawfully carry firearms in public during the suspension period.
The legal architecture is further shaped by Ley 1119 de 2006, which addressed the revalidation of arms permits, and by the Código Penal (Ley 599 de 2000), which criminalises the manufacture, trafficking, carrying or possession of firearms without authorisation. Taken together, these instruments make Colombia's civilian firearms environment tightly controlled: ownership is licensed and registered, carry is exceptional and currently suspended, and the categories of weapon available to civilians are narrow. This article summarises the current rules; where a specific numeric limit could not be verified against a primary source during research, it is described qualitatively rather than stated as a precise figure.
Ownership & licensing
Civilian firearm ownership in Colombia is licensed and channelled through the State. Under the Decreto 2535 de 1993, a person who wishes to keep a firearm must obtain a permiso de tenencia, which authorises possession of the registered weapon and its ammunition within the immovable property (home or business) recorded on the permit. Possession under a tenencia permit extends only to the permit holder and to permanent or transitory residents of that property who assume its defence; the weapon is not lawfully used or borne beyond the registered premises.
The statute classifies weapons into categories that determine who may hold them. Armas de uso civil — principally personal-defence firearms such as revolvers, pistols and shotguns within defined limits — are the category generally available to civilians through permits. Armas de uso restringido (higher-powered arms) may be authorised only in special circumstances and require additional ministerial approval, while armas de uso privativo de la Fuerza Pública (military-grade weapons) are reserved for the armed forces and police and are not available to ordinary civilians. Because of this tiering, high-powered semi-automatic rifles of military calibre fall outside the ordinary civilian-ownership track and are treated as restricted; handguns and shotguns for personal defence are the mainstay of licensed civilian ownership.
Acquisition runs through the State monopoly. Indumil is the sole authorised domestic manufacturer and seller, and the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces administer production, registration and the granting of permits. Every lawfully held firearm is registered, and the permit links the specific weapon (by serial number and characteristics) to its holder and, for tenencia, to a fixed address. Applicants are required to be adults meeting the statute's eligibility conditions and to satisfy the authority's assessment; the number of weapons a natural person may register, the fees, and the validity period of permits are set by regulation. The exact minimum age, the maximum number of firearms per person, and the permit validity term could not be confirmed against a primary source during this research session and are therefore not stated here as precise figures; Ley 1119 de 2006 introduced revalidation requirements so that permits are not indefinite and must be periodically renewed.
Because issuance rests on the "discretionary power of the competent authority," a permit is not granted automatically upon meeting formal criteria — the authority retains latitude to refuse. This discretionary, register-everything model, combined with the single state manufacturer, is the defining feature of Colombian civilian firearms ownership: lawful, but narrow, documented, and revocable.
Carry & transport
Carrying a firearm in public — porte — is treated far more restrictively than keeping one at home. Under the Decreto 2535 de 1993, a permiso de porte authorises the holder to bear the weapon and its ammunition outside the registered address, but such permits are issued only where the applicant can show a verifiable, demonstrable risk justifying the need to be armed. Carry is thus framed as an exceptional authorisation rather than a routine extension of ownership.
Over ordinary practice, however, a broad administrative measure now dominates. Since 2016 the national government has repeatedly decreed a general suspension of civilian carry permits across the whole country, renewed annually. The current instrument, Decreto 1482 de 2025, extends this general suspension of firearm carry permits throughout the national territory from 1 January to 31 December 2026. During this period the general rule is that civilians may not carry firearms in public even if they hold a carry permit, and the security forces are the authorities empowered to bear arms and to enforce the measure. The government has framed the suspension as a preventive public-order measure aimed at reducing armed violence.
The suspension is not absolute: successive decrees have preserved a limited set of exceptions for defined roles — historically including members of the military and police, certain judicial and prosecutorial personnel, and personnel of the National Protection Unit (Unidad Nacional de Protección), among others. Individuals in these categories may still be authorised to carry despite the general suspension. The precise, current list of exempted categories under Decreto 1482 de 2025 should be confirmed against the decree text; this article does not enumerate them exhaustively because the full exception list could not be verified against the primary source during research.
Importantly, the suspension targets porte (carry), not tenencia (home possession). Possession permits that authorise keeping a registered weapon at a fixed address remain valid, so lawful owners may generally continue to keep their firearms at the registered premises even while public carry is suspended.
Transport of a firearm — moving it between locations, for example to a registered address, an armoury, or a shooting range — is regulated under the statute and is not the same as carrying it ready for use; movement of weapons must conform to the conditions attached to the relevant permit and to any instructions of the competent authority. In addition to the national suspension, departmental and municipal authorities may impose their own localised restrictions on carrying arms for specific periods or events. The combined effect is that, for the ordinary civilian in 2026, lawful public carry is effectively unavailable.
Travel & import
Cross-border movement of firearms into and out of Colombia is tightly controlled and, like domestic manufacture, is bound up with the State monopoly. The Decreto 2535 de 1993 establishes the regime for the importation and exportation of weapons, ammunition, explosives and their accessories, placing these activities under state authorisation rather than leaving them to private discretion. Because Industria Militar (Indumil) and the Ministry of Defence control the lawful arms supply, private individuals cannot freely import firearms as ordinary personal goods.
For travellers, the practical position is restrictive. A visitor or returning resident cannot simply bring a personal firearm into Colombia on the strength of a foreign licence; any lawful entry of a weapon requires authorisation from the competent Colombian authority, and an imported weapon would still need to fit the statute's categories and permit framework to be held lawfully in the country. Unauthorised introduction of a firearm falls within the conduct criminalised by the Código Penal (Ley 599 de 2000), which penalises importing, trafficking, transporting or carrying firearms without a competent-authority permit.
Temporary import for legitimate purposes — such as international sport-shooting or hunting events — is contemplated only through the authorisation channels of the arms-control authority, and would be subject to conditions, time limits and registration. Sport shooters and hunters travelling with firearms typically must arrange advance authorisation and comply with the documentation the authority requires; the specific procedures, quantities and durations are set administratively and could not be verified against a primary source during this research session, so exact figures are not stated here.
Diplomatic, security, and official channels are handled separately from the civilian regime. For most civilian travellers, the operative reality is that firearms are not a routine item to carry across the Colombian border, and attempting to do so without prior state authorisation exposes the traveller to seizure of the weapon and to criminal liability. Ammunition, essential parts and accessories are regulated alongside complete firearms, so partial imports (for example, magazines, barrels or ammunition) are not a workaround — the statute and the penal code treat essential parts, accessories and ammunition on the same footing as the weapons themselves.
Travellers intending to bring, acquire, or transit firearms in connection with Colombia should confirm the current requirements directly with the Colombian arms-control authority (the Ministry of Defence's arms-trade control apparatus) and, for competitions, with the sponsoring federation, because authorisations are granted case by case and the general carry suspension in force for 2026 further narrows what is permitted. Where the rules for a particular situation are unclear, the safe assumption is that prior state authorisation is required.
Hunting & sport shooting
Sport shooting and hunting are the principal lawful contexts in which civilians engage in recreational firearm use in Colombia, and both are structured through the permit and club system of the Decreto 2535 de 1993. The statute expressly regulates shooting and hunting clubs (clubes de tiro y caza), collectors and collections, and the sporting use of arms, situating recreational shooting within the same state-controlled framework that governs all other civilian firearm activity.
For sport shooting, firearms used in competition and practice fall within the sporting classification and are handled through affiliation with recognised shooting clubs and the relevant sporting federation. Athletes and club members obtain authorisations appropriate to sporting arms, and the weapons are registered like any other lawfully held firearm. The category of armas deportivas allows access to certain firearms for competition that are oriented to sporting disciplines, subject to the authority's approval and to the conditions the statute imposes. Because carry in public is generally suspended under Decreto 1482 de 2025, movement of sporting firearms is tied to authorised transport to and from ranges and events rather than to a general carry entitlement.
Hunting with firearms is likewise regulated and requires appropriate authorisation. Firearm use for hunting intersects not only with the arms statute but also with Colombia's wildlife and environmental regulations, which govern what species may be taken and under what conditions; environmental authorities administer hunting permits distinct from the weapons permit itself. A hunter therefore needs both a lawful basis to hold and move the firearm and any separate authorisation required to hunt. Given Colombia's extensive protected areas and biodiversity protections, lawful sport hunting is narrow in scope.
The specific requirements — the calibres and firearm types admissible for each sporting discipline, club-membership prerequisites, the number of firearms and rounds a sport shooter may hold, and the fees and validity terms of sporting authorisations — are set by regulation and by federation rules. These precise figures could not be verified against a primary source during this research session and are therefore described qualitatively rather than stated as exact numbers; readers should confirm them with the arms-control authority and the national shooting-sport federation.
In practice, the sport-shooting and hunting pathways are the routes through which a civilian is most likely to obtain lawful access to a firearm for recreational use, but they remain permit-based, register-everything, and club-mediated. There is no unregulated recreational shooting: even at ranges, the firearms involved are registered, the participants authorised, and the activity conducted within the statutory categories. The general suspension of public carry does not by itself prohibit range shooting or supervised sporting use, but it removes any general right to bear the sporting weapon in public outside authorised transport and venues.
Penalties
Colombia enforces its firearms regime with substantial criminal penalties, principally through the Código Penal (Ley 599 de 2000). Article 365 criminalises the unauthorised manufacture, trafficking, transport, storage, distribution, sale, supply, repair, carrying or possession of firearms, their essential parts, accessories or ammunition. According to Article 365, a person who engages in these acts with personal-defence firearms without a permit from the competent authority incurs imprisonment of nine (9) to twelve (12) years. This range was verified against the text of the article during research.
Article 365 also provides that the penalty is doubled when the conduct occurs in defined aggravating circumstances. According to the provision, these include using motorised means; when the weapon comes from a crime; when the offender violently resists the authorities; when masks or similar means are used to conceal or hinder identification; when the offence is committed in criminal co-participation; when the weapons or ammunition have been modified to increase their lethality; when the conduct takes place within the territories covered by the Programas de Desarrollo con Enfoque Territorial (PDET); and when the offender belongs to an organised crime group. The doubling of the penalty in these circumstances substantially raises the exposure of offenders acting in organised or armed contexts.
More serious categories of weapon attract heavier treatment. Offences involving armas de uso privativo de la Fuerza Pública — military-grade arms reserved for the security forces — are addressed by the Código Penal as a distinct and graver offence than those involving personal-defence firearms, carrying higher penalties. The precise prison range for that offence (Article 366) could not be verified against a primary source during this research session, so this article does not state a specific figure for it; it is described qualitatively as more severe than the nine-to-twelve-year range applicable to personal-defence firearms.
The penal code also contemplates a narrow exclusion of criminal responsibility: according to the Código Penal, there is no criminal liability for the conduct described in Articles 365 and 366 when the weapon, its essential parts, accessories or ammunition are surrendered within the time frame and under the terms of the national voluntary weapons-surrender programme and its regulations.
Beyond imprisonment, the Decreto 2535 de 1993 provides administrative consequences: firearms carried or held in breach of the rules are subject to seizure (incautación), and the statute establishes regimes for fines and for definitive confiscation (decomiso) of weapons. Because a general suspension of civilian carry is in force for 2026 under Decreto 1482 de 2025, carrying a firearm in public without falling within an authorised exception is liable to enforcement action and can engage the criminal provisions above. The exact fine amounts and the detailed confiscation procedures are set in the statute and its regulations and are not reproduced here as specific figures, having not been individually verified against the primary text during research.
Sources
- Decreto-Ley 2535 de 1993 — Gestor Normativo, Departamento Administrativo de la Función Pública (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Decreto 2535 de 1993 (PDF) — Policía Nacional de Colombia, normograma (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Decreto 1482 del 31 de diciembre de 2025 (PDF) — Presidencia de la República (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Ley 599 de 2000 (Código Penal) — Gestor Normativo, Función Pública (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Se prorroga la suspensión del porte de armas en todo el territorio nacional durante 2026 — Ejército Nacional de Colombia (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Gobierno Nacional prorroga suspensión del porte de armas hasta 2026 — Radio Nacional de Colombia (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Artículo 365, Código Penal — legislación colombiana consolidada (accessed 2026-07-17)