Overview
Venezuela regulates civilian firearms through the Ley para el Desarme y Control de Armas y Municiones (Law for Disarmament and the Control of Arms and Munitions), enacted by the National Assembly and published in Gaceta Oficial No. 40.190 on 17 June 2013. According to the law's own text, it repealed the 2002 Ley para el Desarme (Gaceta Oficial No. 37.509) and partially repealed the 1939 Ley Sobre Armas y Explosivos, consolidating the manufacture, import, export, trade, registration, carry (porte), possession (tenencia) and disarmament of firearms and ammunition into a single statute (Article 1). No comprehensive replacement had superseded it as of 2026; it remains the governing framework.
The statute rests on a state-monopoly model. Article 8 grants the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana, FANB) exclusive competence to authorize the manufacture, import, export and commercialization of all types of arms, and to grant, suspend and revoke every carry, possession, transport and storage permit. Within the FANB this function is exercised by its arms-control body, the Dirección General de Armas y Explosivos (DAEX), which also maintains the national arms registry and carries out confiscation and destruction. Secondary legal summaries note that this monopoly is anchored in the 1999 Constitution (Article 324), which reserves weapons of war to the state.
Civilian possession under the law is explicitly conditional. Article 10 provides that lawful acquisition of arms or ammunition implies only 'conditioned possession', with the state reserving the right to recover them; Article 53 allows the FANB to requisition all firearms in the country during a decreed mobilization. Automatic and military-grade 'weapons of war' (Article 4) are reserved to the FANB, and weapons of mass destruction and chemical or biological arms are outright prohibited (Article 7).
The 2013 law also embedded a disarmament policy: it created a Fund for Disarmament (Article 80), a national arms-exchange plan with anonymous, amnesty-backed voluntary surrender (Articles 84–88), and two transitional suspensions. Its Fifth Transitional Provision suspended the commercialization of firearms and ammunition, and its Sixth suspended the issuance of new carry and possession permits, each for an initial two years from publication (renewals excepted). Secondary sources, including Wikipedia and GunPolicy.org, report that in practice commercial sales to civilians and new permits have remained largely unavailable well beyond that window, so civilian access is far narrower than the permit catalogue alone suggests.
Ownership & licensing
Under the Ley para el Desarme y Control de Armas y Municiones (2013), all lawful civilian possession requires a permit issued by the FANB's arms-control body (DAEX). Article 18 lists eleven permit classes, including domiciliary possession (tenencia domiciliaria), personal-defense carry, sport, hunting, protection of persons, collection, and agricultural and artistic possession for legal entities.
Article 19 sets the common requirements for natural persons: being Venezuelan by birth or naturalization; being over 25 years of age; current proof of residence; a filiation certificate; no criminal record; a tax registration (RIF) from SENIAT; a medical-psychological examination issued by a military health center under the FANB's Directorate of Military Health; certification of a firearms-handling course; a document proving ownership of the weapon; a ballistic test of the firearm; and third-party civil-liability insurance. Applicants for sport, hunting and collection permits are exempted from the age-25 threshold. The competent body verifies the file and, where appropriate, issues the permit within sixty days (Article 34).
Permits are individual, non-transferable and time-limited. Article 20 provides that the domiciliary-possession permit is valid for three years and limited to one firearm. The personal-defense carry permit is expressly restricted: Article 21 requires the applicant to demonstrate an effective need to protect their physical integrity against an imminent, potential threat, and limits the permit to two years and one firearm, with additional proof of employment, income and a sworn statement of the risk. Renewals must be filed thirty business days before expiry with an updated medical-psychological exam (Articles 33 and 35), and the FANB may suspend or revoke any permit under Article 36.
Every civilian-held firearm, together with its parts, components, accessories and ammunition, must be entered in an automated national registry maintained by the FANB (Article 51). The registry records the weapon's caliber, type, make, model, year and place of manufacture, markings and serial numbers, its ballistic record, the identity and permit dates of the holder, and any transfer, loss, theft or seizure; the data must be preserved for at least thirty years. Transfers, donations and inheritance of a firearm require prior FANB authorization, and the recipient must independently satisfy the common requirements (Articles 37 and 55). Legal entities face a parallel and more extensive documentary regime (Article 27). As noted above, the law's Sixth Transitional Provision suspended new permit issuance, and secondary sources report that in practice ordinary civilians have been largely unable to obtain new permits since 2013 — so while the licensing architecture is detailed, its de facto availability is very limited.
Carry & transport
The Ley para el Desarme y Control de Armas y Municiones (2013) treats carrying (porte) and possession (tenencia) as distinct, separately permitted activities. Carrying a firearm outside an authorized location requires a specific porte permit — for personal defense (Article 21), sport (Article 22), hunting (Article 23) or the protection of persons (Article 24) — each granted by the FANB's arms-control body and, in the personal-defense case, only on a demonstrated, restricted showing of need.
Even where a carry permit exists, the manner of carrying is tightly constrained. Article 25 requires every carry-permit holder to take precautions to avoid displaying the firearm in public places, which functionally bars open carry. Article 26 prohibits carrying a firearm altogether — regardless of permit type — in a defined list of places: public gatherings, demonstrations, shows, sporting events, marches, strikes, rallies, civil construction sites and electoral processes; educational institutions, health centers and religious centers; premises selling or serving alcohol; passenger terminals and public-transport units; and while intoxicated or under the influence of narcotics. Members of the armed forces and authorized police and state security officials acting in their functions are excepted from all but the intoxication rule.
Transport of a possession-permitted firearm is also controlled. Article 38 provides that a natural person holding a firearm under a tenencia permit may move it away from the authorized address only with prior FANB authorization, obtained by explaining in writing the circumstances requiring the move and the specific destination. Ammunition transport is separately regulated: Article 63 requires it to travel in conditioned vehicles along routes authorized by the FANB.
The law equips the executive with broad geographic override powers. Article 82 allows the National Executive, for reasons of public security or national interest, to declare special geographic zones under restriction or outright prohibition of carry permits for as long as it deems appropriate. Secondary sources report that such carry restrictions have been applied broadly and that, in practice, new civilian carry permits have not been generally issued since the law took effect; a 2017 measure restricting the public carrying of firearms is noted in Wikipedia's summary. Carrying a firearm without the corresponding permit, or in a prohibited place, is a criminal offense (see Penalties). The net effect is that lawful civilian carry, while formally provided for, is exceptional and heavily conditioned rather than routinely available.
Travel & import
Private importation of firearms into Venezuela is not permitted. The Ley para el Desarme y Control de Armas y Municiones (2013) vests the import, export and commercialization of arms exclusively in the state: Article 8 gives the FANB exclusive competence to authorize the manufacture, import, export and commercialization of arms of all types, and Article 11 requires the FANB to submit an annual manufacturing-and-import plan to the President in Council of Ministers. Article 56 makes the Venezuelan state the sole competent authority for the manufacture, import, export and commercialization of ammunition. There is, accordingly, no lawful channel for a private individual to import a firearm or ammunition for personal acquisition.
Where arms move across Venezuela's borders under state authority, Article 13 requires an import, export or international-transit license issued by the FANB's arms-control body, specifying the place and date of issue and expiry, the exporting and importing countries, the final recipient, a description and quantity of the arms, their markings and serials, and any transit countries. Article 9 additionally bars the manufacture, import, export, transit or trade of any arms prohibited by international conventions ratified by Venezuela.
The law does make specific provision for travelers bringing arms into the country. Article 39 provides that foreign persons entering as travelers, sport shooters, sport hunters, collectors, or providers of personal or property protection who possess firearms must, before entering the national territory, obtain authorization from the FANB's arms-control body to bring in and move with those arms, applying in writing and explaining the circumstances that justify the entry. A parallel rule in Article 17 governs bladed weapons carried by foreign sportspeople, scientists and collectors. The detailed requirements and procedures are left to the implementing regulation administered by DAEX.
Because the statute channels all import and commercialization through state entities, and because its transitional provisions suspended commercial sales of firearms and ammunition (with limited exceptions for the FANB, police, state bodies, private-security and value-transport firms, and the national security academy), the practical routes for a civilian to lawfully acquire an imported firearm are effectively closed. Ammunition purchases by permit holders are also capped and tied to state distribution points (see Hunting & sport shooting). Travelers should treat the entry of any firearm as requiring advance, case-by-case FANB authorization, and should not assume a personal firearm may be imported for retention in the country.
Hunting & sport shooting
The Ley para el Desarme y Control de Armas y Municiones (2013) recognizes both hunting and sport shooting as lawful purposes and provides dedicated permit categories for each. Article 22 establishes a two-year carry permit for sporting purposes, requiring — in addition to the common requirements — a current certificate from a shooting federation or association recognized by the state sports authority attesting to the applicant's affiliation and competitive category. Article 23 establishes a two-year carry permit for hunting, for which the firearm must be classified as suitable for hunting under the applicable environmental regulations. Notably, Article 19 exempts sport, hunting and collection applicants from the general age-25 threshold that applies to other permits.
The law classifies firearms other than weapons of war into categories that include 'sporting arms' — those classified as such by the relevant international sport bodies, expressly including air (pneumatic) guns — and 'hunting arms' used for subsistence, commercial, scientific, sporting or animal-control purposes (Article 5). Collection arms (pre-20th-century weapons and their replicas, or historically significant arms) form a further category with its own five-year possession permit (Article 30).
Sport shooting is organized around authorized ranges. Article 46 lets the FANB authorize public or private legal entities to establish shooting ranges and galleries; Article 47 limits those facilities to practice and training and prohibits the commercial sale of firearms on site. Ammunition for sport use is sold only at state distribution points located inside authorized ranges (Article 48), and Article 49 forbids removing purchased ammunition from the training premises, requiring unused rounds to be returned before leaving.
Ammunition is quantitatively capped by permit type. According to the law, holders of personal-defense, protection-of-persons, domiciliary-possession, property-protection and value-transport permits may acquire a maximum of fifty rounds per year (Article 64); agricultural-protection holders up to one hundred rounds per year (Article 65); hunting-permit holders up to one hundred rounds per month (Article 69); and sport shooters up to three hundred rounds per month per authorized firearm, matching the weapon's caliber and used only at authorized sites (Article 70). Article 58 prohibits reloading spent cartridges, with a narrow exception for high-level competitive athletes whose reloads are approved by the FANB's arms-control body. Larger allocations for national and international competitions require case-by-case authorization endorsed by the state sports authority (Article 71).
Penalties
The Ley para el Desarme y Control de Armas y Municiones (2013) separates administrative sanctions (Title VI, Chapter I) from criminal penalties (Chapter II). Administrative fines are expressed in unidades tributarias (UT), a tax-indexed unit whose bolívar value is set by the authorities and has been heavily eroded by inflation. According to the statute, undue public display of a firearm by a permit holder draws a fine of 25–50 UT (Article 99); carrying while intoxicated draws retention of the weapon, a one-year suspension and a 25–50 UT fine (Article 100); holding a firearm on an expired permit draws 50–100 UT (Article 103); and carrying ammunition in excess of twice the weapon's authorized capacity draws 100–200 UT, doubled where the magazine's capacity exceeds seventeen rounds (Article 104). Unlicensed possession of firearms or ammunition by a legal entity draws 500–1,000 UT (Article 106).
The criminal penalties are set out as prison terms and were verified against the statute's text. Negligent storage allowing a child or a person with a mental disability to easily obtain a firearm is punishable by one to three years (Article 108). Discharging a firearm in an inhabited or public place carries three to five years (Article 109). Falsifying a carry or possession permit carries four to six years, rising to six to eight years for a public official (Article 110).
Two core offenses target unlicensed civilians. Under Article 111, unlawful possession (posesión ilícita) of a firearm without the corresponding FANB permit is punishable by four to six years, increasing to six to ten years if the weapon is a weapon of war. Under Article 112, unlawful carrying (porte ilícito) without the corresponding permit is punishable by four to eight years, likewise six to ten years for a weapon of war, and increased by one quarter when committed by a public official. Carrying a firearm in one of the prohibited places listed in Article 26 is punishable by four to eight years, increased by a quarter if the carrier is intoxicated (Article 113). Carrying a facsimile (imitation) firearm carries two to four years (Article 114).
Tampering offenses are punished severely: modifying a firearm to make it more lethal carries six to eight years (Article 116); altering serials or markings, three to five years (Article 117); reactivating a firearm marked for destruction, eight to ten years (Article 120). The gravest offenses are unlicensed manufacture or assembly of firearms and ammunition, punishable by eighteen to twenty-five years (Article 123), and illicit trafficking — importing, exporting, buying, selling, transferring, supplying or concealing arms without FANB authorization — punishable by twenty to twenty-five years (Article 124). All pecuniary and custodial sanctions apply without prejudice to seizure or confiscation of the weapon and ammunition (Article 125).
Sources
- Ley para el Desarme y Control de Armas y Municiones, Gaceta Oficial No. 40.190 (17 June 2013) — Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Comunicación e Información (MINCI) (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Ley para el Desarme y Control de Armas y Municiones — Asamblea Nacional de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Reglamento de la Ley para el Desarme — Dirección General de Armas y Explosivos (DAEX), Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Firearms regulation in Venezuela — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-07-17)
- Guns in Venezuela — GunPolicy.org, University of Sydney (accessed 2026-07-17)