Overview
Guatemala is one of the few countries whose constitution expressly recognizes a right to own firearms. Article 38 of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala (1985) recognizes the right to possess weapons for personal use, not prohibited by law, within the place of habitation, and states that there is no obligation to surrender them except by order of a competent judge. This constitutional starting point makes civilian ownership a recognized right, but one that is closely regulated by statute rather than unrestricted.
The primary statute in force is the Ley de Armas y Municiones (Law on Arms and Ammunition), Decree No. 15-2009 of the Congress of the Republic, which took effect in 2009 and replaced the earlier arms law. According to Decree 15-2009, the possession, carrying, importation, manufacture, and commerce of firearms and ammunition are controlled by the Dirección General de Control de Armas y Municiones (DIGECAM), an agency operating under the Ministry of National Defense. DIGECAM maintains the national firearms registry, records the ballistic identification of registered firearms, issues possession and carry documents, and authorizes commercial and import activity.
The law distinguishes between different categories of weapon. Firearms classified as "de uso civil" (civilian use) and sporting arms may be acquired by qualifying private individuals and legal entities, while fully automatic weapons and other arms reserved for the armed forces and security services are outside civilian reach. In practice, revolvers, semi-automatic pistols, shotguns, and manually operated or semi-automatic rifles fall within the civilian category, subject to registration and licensing.
Two separate legal concepts run through the regime. "Tenencia" refers to keeping a registered firearm at a fixed, authorized location such as the home or a business, while "portación" refers to the licensed carrying of a firearm outside that location. Each is treated distinctly, with the carry licence imposing the stricter conditions.
Guatemala's arms framework has been the subject of ongoing public debate because of high rates of firearm-related violence, and various reform proposals have been introduced in Congress over the years. As of 2026, Decree 15-2009 remains the governing law and DIGECAM the responsible authority. Readers should note that regulations, fees, and administrative procedures issued under the law are updated from time to time, and that this article summarizes the general legal structure rather than every administrative detail. Where a specific figure could not be confirmed against a primary source during preparation, it is described in general terms below and flagged as such.
Ownership & licensing
Under Decree 15-2009, a civilian who wishes to own a firearm legally must register it with DIGECAM, which records the weapon, its owner, and its ballistic characteristics in the national registry. According to the law, only a firearm that is duly registered may be lawfully possessed, and ammunition may be sold only in the caliber corresponding to a registered firearm. This registration requirement is central: legal ownership is defined by the DIGECAM record rather than by mere purchase.
Eligibility is screened through documentary and background checks. Applicants must present a valid national identity document (Documento Personal de Identificación, DPI) and provide criminal-record and police-record certificates (antecedentes penales and antecedentes policiacos). A disqualifying criminal history, or records indicating relevant violent conduct, bars an applicant. For the carry licence in particular, DIGECAM-administered procedures also require a psychological evaluation and completion of an approved safety and handling course, according to DIGECAM's published requirements and Decree 15-2009.
The law separates "tenencia" (keeping a registered firearm at an authorized location) from "portación" (carrying it in public under licence). Possession registration authorizes a firearm to be kept at a declared address; the carry licence is a distinct, more demanding authorization discussed in the next section. According to Decree 15-2009, no carry licence may be granted to a person under twenty-five years of age ("menores de veinticinco años de edad"), a threshold confirmed by both the statutory text and DIGECAM's current guidance.
As to what may be owned, the law reserves civilian ownership to arms classified for civil or sporting use — typically revolvers, semi-automatic pistols, shotguns, and mechanically operated or semi-automatic rifles — while fully automatic firearms and weapons of war are prohibited to civilians.
Ammunition purchases are capped by statute. According to Decree 15-2009, a person may acquire monthly up to two hundred fifty (250) rounds for each firearm registered on a carry licence, or up to two hundred (200) rounds under a possession registration; larger quantities require a special permit from DIGECAM upon justification. Only ammunition of the registered caliber may be sold to the holder.
The number of firearms an individual may register is not clearly capped by a single widely reported figure, and sources conflict on this point; the statutory ammunition rules themselves contemplate a person holding more than one registered firearm. Because a definitive numeric limit could not be verified against a primary source during preparation, this article does not state one, and the point is flagged as unknown. Similarly, any magazine-capacity restriction could not be confirmed and is treated as unknown below.
Carry & transport
Carrying a firearm in public in Guatemala requires a carry licence (licencia de portación de arma de fuego) issued by DIGECAM. According to Decree 15-2009, a person who carries a civilian or sporting firearm in public without such a licence, or without other legal authorization, commits the offence of illegal carrying. The possession registration that allows a firearm to be kept at home does not, by itself, authorize carrying it outside the authorized location.
The carry licence is the most tightly conditioned authorization in the regime. According to the statute, it may not be granted to anyone under twenty-five years of age. DIGECAM's published procedure requires, in addition to the identity and clean-record conditions applicable to ownership generally, a psychological aptitude evaluation and a certificate of completion of an approved theory-and-practical firearms course from an authorized range or academy. The licence is issued for a fixed term — DIGECAM's current guidance describes validity of between one and three years at the applicant's choice, renewable — and the holder is entered in DIGECAM's biometric records.
Guatemalan law regulates carrying primarily through this single licence rather than by drawing a sharp statutory line between open and concealed carry; the licence authorizes the holder to bear the specific registered firearm, and both open and concealed carrying by a licensed holder are treated within that framework. Because the statute does not create a separate concealed-carry permit distinct from the general portación licence, the practical rule is that lawful public carry of any kind depends on holding a valid DIGECAM carry licence for the firearm in question. Carrying is also subject to place-based and conduct-based restrictions, and a licence can be suspended or revoked.
Transport of firearms — moving a firearm between locations, as distinct from bearing it for personal defense — is separately regulated. According to Decree 15-2009, transporting or transferring firearms within the national territory without the appropriate DIGECAM authorization is a distinct criminal offence and is treated as one of the more serious arms offences in the law, carrying non-commutable imprisonment and confiscation of the weapons. The exact statutory penalty range is addressed in the Penalties section; because it could not be confirmed against a primary source during preparation, this article describes it qualitatively rather than stating a specific number of years.
In short, the lawful public movement of a firearm in Guatemala turns on matching the activity to the correct DIGECAM authorization: a carry licence for bearing a firearm, and the appropriate transport authorization for moving firearms as goods. Acting outside those authorizations exposes the individual to the criminal offences set out in the law, and readers planning to carry or move firearms in Guatemala should confirm current DIGECAM requirements directly, as administrative rules and fees are periodically updated.
Travel & import
Guatemala controls the importation and cross-border movement of firearms strictly, and travelers cannot simply bring personal firearms into the country. According to the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala, individuals are not permitted to bring weapons into Guatemala without prior authorization, and firearms brought without the required permits may be seized and the carrier subject to arrest and prosecution. The Embassy directs travelers to Guatemalan authorities — principally DIGECAM and, for hunting or sporting purposes, the relevant permitting bodies — before attempting to enter with any firearm or ammunition.
Under Decree 15-2009, the importation of firearms, ammunition, and related items is an activity controlled by DIGECAM. According to the law, only persons or entities that are properly registered and authorized may import firearms and ammunition classified for civilian or sporting use, and importation must conform to the marking, registration, and record-keeping requirements the law imposes. Commercial importation is generally the domain of licensed dealers operating under DIGECAM authorization, while an individual seeking to import a firearm must obtain the corresponding permit and register the weapon domestically.
Because DIGECAM operates under the Ministry of National Defense, arms import controls sit alongside the state's broader defense and security oversight. Imported firearms are marked and their ballistic identification recorded, consistent with the registry obligations that apply to domestically acquired firearms. Ammunition importation is likewise controlled, and the monthly purchase caps described above (250 rounds per firearm on a carry licence, or 200 under a possession registration, absent a special permit) reflect the law's general approach of limiting the flow of ammunition to registered arms.
For a visitor — for example, a hunter or competitive shooter wishing to bring a firearm temporarily — the practical requirement is advance authorization: contacting DIGECAM and any relevant hunting or sporting authority before travel, and carrying the documentation that authorizes temporary import and, where applicable, temporary carrying or use. The specific temporary-import procedures, permitted durations, and fees are administrative matters set by DIGECAM and are not fully detailed here; they should be confirmed with DIGECAM and, for U.S. travelers, cross-checked against current U.S. Embassy guidance, both of which are cited in the sources below.
Exportation and re-exportation of firearms are similarly subject to DIGECAM authorization and to any applicable international transfer controls. Guatemala is a party to regional and international instruments addressing the illicit trafficking of firearms, and the arms law's controls on importation and transfer form part of the country's implementation of those obligations. As with the domestic rules, the safest course for anyone contemplating bringing a firearm across Guatemala's borders is to secure written authorization in advance; attempting to import or carry a firearm without it exposes the traveler to seizure of the weapon and criminal liability. Because import procedures change, the details above should be verified with the responsible authorities before relying on them.
Hunting & sport shooting
Guatemalan law recognizes sporting and hunting firearms as a distinct category within the civilian framework. According to Decree 15-2009, arms classified for sporting use ("armas deportivas") together with civilian-use arms are the categories that qualifying individuals and entities may lawfully acquire, register, and use, in contrast to weapons reserved for the armed forces. Shotguns and rifles suitable for hunting and target shooting therefore fall within the arms that DIGECAM may register and license, subject to the same registration and eligibility conditions that apply to firearms generally.
Sport shooting is pursued through licensed ranges, academies, and clubs, which also play a formal role in the carry-licence process: DIGECAM's requirements contemplate that the mandatory theory-and-practical course be completed at an authorized range or academy, meaning the sporting-shooting infrastructure is integrated into the broader licensing system. Competitive and recreational shooters must still register the firearms they own and, if they wish to carry a firearm to and from a range in public, hold the appropriate DIGECAM authorization for doing so; the ammunition purchase caps described earlier apply to sporting shooters as they do to other registered owners, with the option of a special DIGECAM permit for higher quantities where justified — a provision of practical relevance to competitors who consume large volumes of ammunition.
Hunting involves a second layer of regulation beyond the arms law. In Guatemala, wildlife and protected-area matters fall under environmental and conservation authorities, and hunting is subject to conservation rules, seasons, protected-species restrictions, and permits administered by those bodies rather than by DIGECAM. The firearm itself is regulated under Decree 15-2009 and DIGECAM, while the act of hunting — where, when, and what may be taken — is governed by wildlife legislation and the competent environmental authority. A hunter must therefore satisfy both regimes: a lawfully registered and, where carried, licensed firearm, and a valid hunting authorization for the activity and location.
The precise administrative details of hunting permits — issuing authority procedures, seasons, permitted species, and any caliber or method restrictions — are set by the wildlife and conservation framework and are not specified in the arms law; several of these specifics could not be confirmed against a primary source during preparation and are treated as unknown here rather than stated with false precision. Visitors intending to hunt should confirm both the firearm-import and firearm-carry requirements with DIGECAM and the hunting-permit requirements with Guatemala's environmental and protected-areas authorities before travel.
In summary, sport shooting and hunting are lawful civilian activities that operate within, not outside, the national arms-control system: the firearm must be registered (and licensed if carried) under Decree 15-2009, ammunition is subject to the statutory monthly caps, and hunting additionally requires compliance with wildlife-protection rules administered separately from DIGECAM. Where this article marks a specific rule as unknown, that reflects the absence of a verified primary source rather than the absence of regulation.
Penalties
Decree 15-2009 sets out a dedicated set of criminal offences and penalties for the unlawful handling of firearms and ammunition, contained in the law's penal title. These offences include, among others, illegal possession (tenencia ilegal), illegal carrying (portación ilegal), illegal transport or transfer of firearms, and offences relating to prohibited weapons, altered or unmarked firearms, and unlawful commerce or manufacture. In general, according to the law, penalties scale with the seriousness of the conduct and the category of weapon involved, ranging from fines to multi-year imprisonment, and typically include confiscation of the weapons involved.
Several general features can be stated with confidence. First, carrying a civilian or sporting firearm in public without a DIGECAM carry licence is a criminal offence, not a mere administrative infraction. Second, offences involving the unauthorized transport or transfer of firearms within the country are treated as among the more serious arms offences, and according to Decree 15-2009 carry non-commutable imprisonment (meaning the prison term cannot be exchanged for a fine) together with confiscation of the weapons. Third, offences involving weapons prohibited to civilians — such as fully automatic firearms or weapons of war — and offences connected to trafficking are punished more severely than those involving ordinary civilian-use firearms held without the correct paperwork.
This article deliberately does not state exact prison-year ranges for the individual offences. During preparation, the specific statutory figures could not be reliably confirmed against a primary source: extraction from the official PDF of the law was not dependable, and secondary summaries conflicted with one another on the exact ranges (for example, differing figures were reported for illegal carrying). In keeping with a policy of not asserting a precise penalty that has not been verified, the ranges are described qualitatively here. Readers who need the exact term for a particular offence should consult the current consolidated text of Decree 15-2009, in the penal title governing arms offences, or obtain advice from Guatemalan counsel, because the precise numbers — and any subsequent amendments — control.
Beyond imprisonment and fines, the law provides for confiscation of firearms and ammunition connected to an offence, cancellation or suspension of licences, and the entry of the offender's details in DIGECAM's records. Administrative sanctions may also apply to registered owners who fail to comply with registration, renewal, or reporting obligations, separate from the criminal penalties for the offences above.
Because firearm legislation is periodically debated and amended in Guatemala, and because the exact penalty figures were not verified against a primary source for this article, the numeric details of sentencing should be treated as subject to confirmation. What is stable is the structure: a graded set of criminal offences under Decree 15-2009, more severe treatment of prohibited weapons and trafficking, non-commutable terms for the gravest conduct, and confiscation as a standard consequence. The sources below point to the official text and to government guidance for readers who need the precise, current provisions.
Sources
- Decreto Número 15-2009, Ley de Armas y Municiones — Congreso de la República de Guatemala (official text) (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Ley de Armas y Municiones (Decreto 15-2009) — Policía Nacional Civil / portal.pnc.edu.gt (official government copy) (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Decreto 15-2009 — Ley de Armas y Municiones, UNODC SHERLOC legislation database (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Bringing a Weapon to Guatemala — U.S. Embassy in Guatemala (official U.S. government guidance) (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Gun law in Guatemala — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-07-17)
- DIGECAM First Firearm Carry License: Requirements, Exam, Q590 — Living in Guatemala (accessed 2026-07-17)