Overview
Georgia, the country in the South Caucasus, regulates civilian firearms through a national permit-and-registration system administered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The governing statute is the Law of Georgia on Weapons, which defines the categories of weapon and the conditions under which private persons may acquire, keep, and carry them. That law has been amended many times; the year of its original adoption is commonly reported as the early 2000s, but it could not be confirmed against a primary source during this research and is treated here as unverified.
The day-to-day mechanics of the system are set out in the Law of Georgia on the Fees and Time Limits for Services Provided by the Service Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia (No 4308, in force since 1 February 2007 and amended through 2023), which implements and repeatedly cross-references the Law on Weapons. According to that Fees Law, the Service Agency — a legal entity under public law within the Ministry — is responsible for the registration, re-registration and writing-off of weapons, for maintaining a weapons registry, for ballistic testing, and for issuing permits to natural persons to purchase firearms. Civilian ownership is therefore permitted but conditional: a person must hold a state-issued permit before buying a firearm, and the weapon must be registered.
The Fees Law enumerates the civilian weapon categories that structure the entire regime: hunting rifled firearms (carbines and rifles), hunting smooth-bore firearms, combined hunting firearms, short-barrel defensive firearms (including scatterguns), short-barrel and long-barrel sports firearms, and gas weapons such as pistols and revolvers, together with hunting and sporting air weapons. Each category is handled differently for the purposes of keeping versus carrying, the qualifying examination, and cross-border movement.
Several specifics that readers often seek — the minimum age to hold a permit, any magazine-capacity limit, and the precise sentencing ranges for firearms offences — could not be verified against a primary source in this session and are described qualitatively rather than stated as figures. Where a figure below is given (for example, a service fee or an ammunition threshold), it is taken directly from the consolidated Fees Law. This article summarises the civilian-facing rules and is not legal advice; anyone acting on Georgian firearms law should consult the current consolidated texts on the official legislative portal, matsne.gov.ge, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Ownership & licensing
Acquiring a firearm in Georgia begins with a permit issued by the Service Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the Fees Law, the Agency issues permits to natural persons to purchase short-barrel defensive firearms or short-barrel sports firearms 'with the right to keep' and, separately, to purchase gas defensive firearms, hunting firearms, long-barrel sports firearms, or short-barrel sports firearms 'with the right to keep and carry'. The parenthetical language is central: a permit conveys either a right to keep the weapon or a right to keep and carry it, and the category of weapon determines which is available.
Before a purchase permit is issued, an applicant must pass a knowledge test. The Fees Law provides that the Agency conducts an examination to check the applicant's knowledge of weapon-circulation rules for those seeking to purchase a civilian defensive short-barrel firearm or gas weapon, a sports firearm, or a hunting firearm. The one-time examination fee is GEL 20 for each track. This examination requirement applies across the main civilian categories.
Registration is mandatory. The Fees Law lists registration, re-registration, and writing-off of weapons among the Agency's core functions and sets the fee for registering one firearm at GEL 30, with a weapon registration certificate costing GEL 15 and a ballistics test GEL 20. The 'major elements' of a weapon — defined as the barrel, cylinder, bolt, frame, and barrel receiver — are registered as well, and additional major elements kept separately from the weapon are registered in their own right. The State thus maintains an identified record of both complete firearms and their key components.
Eligibility is screened against criminal history. The Fees Law describes a 'certificate of conviction' used in the Agency's procedures; it cross-references a long list of Criminal Code articles and records whether the statutory period following removal or expungement of a conviction has passed — four years for a less-serious crime, eight years for a serious crime, and twelve years for a particularly serious crime. This mechanism ties permit eligibility to a person's criminal record and to the gravity of any prior offence.
Legal persons participate in defined roles — for example, operators of shooting galleries and ranges and recognised sports organisations may hold and register weapons for use at their facilities. The minimum age at which a private individual may obtain a permit is set by the Law on Weapons; the exact threshold could not be verified in this session and is recorded as unknown. Applicants should confirm the current age requirement, documentary requirements, and any medical or residence conditions with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Carry & transport
Georgian law separates the right to keep a firearm from the right to carry it, and the distinction follows the weapon's category. According to the Fees Law, permits for short-barrel defensive firearms and short-barrel sports firearms are issued 'with the right to keep', whereas permits for gas defensive firearms, hunting firearms, long-barrel sports firearms, and short-barrel sports firearms are issued 'with the right to keep and carry'. A person whose permit conveys only the right to keep a weapon does not thereby acquire a general right to carry it in public.
The verified sources describe carrying in terms of this keep-versus-carry endorsement rather than in terms of a separate 'open' or 'concealed' distinction; whether Georgian law treats open and concealed carry differently could not be confirmed in this session and is noted as uncertain. Persons who retain a right to carry weapons after official service — for example, certain retired officials — are addressed by dedicated permit provisions in the Fees Law.
Movement of firearms outside the place where they are kept is itself regulated through interim (temporary) weapon certificates. The Fees Law defines an 'interim weapon certificate' that authorises a person to move a weapon in specified situations: from the place of purchase to the place of keeping; temporarily from the place of keeping to another place and back; to the Agency for technical inspection, ballistic testing, or writing-off; to a licensed repairer and back; and from the place of keeping to a shooting gallery, shooting ground, or trap-shooting station and back, together with the ammunition for that weapon. Issuing these certificates carries modest fees (for example, GEL 10 for a standard interim certificate, and higher amounts for movements involving multiple weapons).
Transport and transfer of weapons and ammunition more generally also require a permit. The Fees Law provides for the issuance of permits to move, transport and transfer weapons and ammunition, and sets per-unit fees for such permits, including expedited processing. Publicly reported information from the Ministry of Internal Affairs indicates that owners holding a right to keep may move a registered weapon to a shooting range on the basis of a temporary certificate, subject to frequency limits.
Because carrying and transport are permit-conditioned and category-dependent, the practical rule is that possession alone does not authorise movement in public: the specific permit endorsement and, where applicable, an interim certificate govern when and how a firearm may lawfully leave the place where it is registered to be kept.
Travel & import
Bringing firearms into or out of Georgia is separately permitted and fee-bearing, with different rules for Georgian nationals, foreign nationals, and sporting bodies. According to the Fees Law, the Service Agency issues to a Georgian national a permit to take out of or bring into Georgia civilian firearms and/or gas weapons, their major elements and/or ammunition, excluding transit and re-export. The service fee is GEL 10 for one weapon or one major element and GEL 0.1 for each cartridge, with a four-working-day expedited option at higher rates.
For foreign nationals, the Agency issues a permit to take out of or bring into Georgia hunting or sports firearms and/or ammunition, at GEL 10 per weapon and GEL 0.1 per cartridge, and a separate permit allowing a foreign national to take out of Georgia one unit of civilian firearm or gas weapon purchased in Georgia. These provisions accommodate visiting hunters and sport shooters and the export of weapons lawfully bought in the country, while keeping each movement under permit control.
Sporting institutions have a dedicated channel. The Fees Law provides for the issuance of a permit for sports institutions in the appropriate field to temporarily take out of or bring into Georgia sports and hunting firearms for participating in a sporting event abroad, allowing teams and federations to travel to competitions with their equipment under a temporary regime.
Ammunition is regulated by quantity thresholds. The Fees Law sets permit fees for moving or transferring ammunition and specifies the quantities at which those fees apply: the smooth-bore-cartridge fee applies to movements of at least 300 cartridges, the rifled-cartridge fee to at least 50 cartridges, and the gunpowder fee to at least one kilogram. These thresholds indicate that the movement of ammunition in more than small quantities is brought within the permit system.
Applications for these cross-border and movement permits may be filed through the Agency directly or through Public Service Halls, and the Fees Law sets standard processing times (for example, an eight-working-day baseline for permit issuance, with faster expedited tiers). Travellers should note that the figures above are service fees drawn from the consolidated Fees Law and do not include any customs duties, and that transit and re-export are treated separately. Because import and export conditions can change and may interact with customs rules, anyone planning to travel with firearms to or from Georgia should confirm current requirements with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Revenue Service before travelling.
Hunting & sport shooting
Hunting and sport shooting are the most developed strands of civilian firearm use in Georgia's legal framework, and several weapon categories are defined specifically for them. According to the Fees Law, the civilian categories include hunting rifled firearms (carbines and rifles), hunting smooth-bore firearms, combined hunting firearms, and both short-barrel and long-barrel sports firearms, alongside hunting and sporting air weapons. Permits for hunting firearms and long-barrel sports firearms are issued with the right to keep and carry, reflecting their use in the field and on the range.
Prospective hunters and sport shooters must pass the qualifying examination. The Fees Law provides separate examination tracks — and a GEL 20 fee — for the knowledge test required to obtain a permit to purchase a hunting firearm and a sports firearm, mirroring the test required for defensive short-barrel and gas weapons. Hunting and sporting air weapons are also brought into the registration system, and the Agency registers a natural person's right to carry a hunting or sporting air weapon.
Organised shooting facilities operate under their own permits. The Fees Law provides for the issuance of a permit to open a closed and/or semi-closed shooting gallery, shooting ground and trap-shooting stations, a service for which it sets a 60-working-day processing period and a specific fee. Weapons and ammunition belonging to a licensed range operator, and to national shooting-sport federations or organisations recognised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth of Georgia, may be registered for use at those facilities, and shooting is permitted on their territory in accordance with a government ordinance and the facility's permit.
Moving a personally owned weapon to a range is handled through the interim-certificate mechanism described above: an owner may transport a registered weapon, with its ammunition, from the place of keeping to a shooting gallery, shooting ground, or trap-shooting station and back under a temporary weapon certificate. Publicly reported Ministry information indicates that such transport for owners holding a right to keep is allowed on the basis of a temporary certificate, subject to a weekly frequency limit and a cap on the number of weapons moved at once.
Hunting itself is additionally governed by wildlife, protected-areas, and hunting-season rules that lie outside the weapons legislation; a valid firearm permit does not by itself authorise hunting, which requires compliance with those separate environmental and licensing regimes. Hunters and competitors should confirm current season dates, permitted species, and range rules with the relevant authorities.
Penalties
Firearms offences in Georgia are addressed through the criminal and administrative law rather than through the Law on Weapons alone, and penalties scale with the seriousness of the conduct and the category of weapon involved. The Criminal Code of Georgia contains the offences dealing with the unlawful handling of firearms — broadly, the illegal acquisition, keeping, carrying, manufacture, and transfer of firearms, their major components, and ammunition. The precise article text and the associated sentencing ranges could not be verified against the primary source during this research session; accordingly, this article does not state specific terms of imprisonment or fine amounts. As a general matter, conduct such as possessing or carrying a firearm without the required permit, or dealing in weapons outside the licensed system, exposes an offender to criminal liability, with more serious cases (for example, those involving trafficking or prohibited items) attracting heavier penalties.
Less serious breaches of the administrative rules governing weapons may be dealt with under the Administrative Offences Code of Georgia rather than the Criminal Code, typically through fines or confiscation; the exact provisions were not verified in this session and are described qualitatively.
The consequences of a criminal record also reach back into the permit system itself. As set out in the Fees Law, the Service Agency screens applicants using a 'certificate of conviction' that references a wide range of Criminal Code articles and records whether the statutory waiting period after a conviction has been removed or expunged has elapsed — four years for a less-serious crime, eight years for a serious crime, and twelve years for a particularly serious crime. In practice this means that a relevant conviction can bar a person from lawfully acquiring or retaining a firearm for years after the sentence itself has ended.
Because the specific penalty ranges and article numbers are set by the Criminal Code and the Administrative Offences Code and are subject to amendment, readers should consult the current consolidated texts on matsne.gov.ge or seek qualified legal advice for any specific situation. The qualitative description here is deliberately cautious where the underlying figures could not be independently verified.
Sources
- Law of Georgia on the Fees and Time Limits for Services Provided by the Service Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia — consolidated English text (matsne.gov.ge) (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Criminal Code of Georgia — English text (matsne.gov.ge) (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia — firearm licence information (police.ge) (accessed 2026-07-17)
- GunPolicy.org — Guns in Georgia (Sydney School of Public Health) (accessed 2026-07-17)