Overview
Vietnam maintains one of the most restrictive firearms regimes in the world, under which private civilian ownership of firearms is effectively prohibited. The governing statute is the Law on Management and Use of Weapons, Explosive Materials and Support Instruments (Law No. 42/2024/QH15), passed by the National Assembly on 29 June 2024. According to Law No. 42/2024/QH15, the law took effect on 1 January 2025, replacing the earlier Law No. 14/2017/QH14 and Law No. 50/2019/QH14, which ceased to have effect on the same date. The 2024 law consolidates and updates the national framework for the manufacture, trade, possession, transport and use of weapons, explosive materials and "support instruments" (a category covering items such as batons, stun devices and certain restraint tools).
The law divides weapons into categories including military weapons (vũ khí quân dụng), sporting weapons (vũ khí thể thao), hunting guns (súng săn) and rudimentary or "cold" weapons (vũ khí thô sơ). According to Law No. 42/2024/QH15, military weapons include handguns, rifles, shoulder-fired and light and heavy weapons and their ammunition, together with certain shotguns and air guns designated on ministerial lists. Permission to be equipped with, and to use, each category is confined to the state armed forces and a defined set of authorized organizations; the law does not create a general pathway for private persons to acquire firearms.
The stated purpose of the law is to safeguard national security, social order and public safety. Independent legal summaries note that Vietnam's restrictive posture has deep historical roots in the aftermath of decades of war, when the state undertook to remove firearms from general circulation. As a result, the default position for an ordinary resident or visitor is that possessing any firearm, its ammunition, or many air- and gas-powered guns without state authorization is unlawful.
Because civilian firearm ownership is not permitted, several concepts familiar from other jurisdictions — such as licensed private handgun ownership, concealed-carry permits, or civilian magazine-capacity limits — have no civilian application in Vietnam. Where this article states a specific statutory figure (for example a penalty range), that figure has been checked against the primary legislative text cited in the Sources section; where a specific could not be verified, the rule is described qualitatively rather than asserted with false precision.
Ownership & licensing
According to Law No. 42/2024/QH15, lawful possession and use of weapons is restricted to specified state bodies and authorized organizations rather than to private individuals. Entities that may be equipped with military weapons include the People's Army, the People's Public Security (police), the Coast Guard, militia and self-defence forces, and other bodies designated under the law; the specific allocation is determined by the Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of Public Security according to each body's functions and tasks. Private citizens are not among the entities authorized to hold military weapons.
The law sets out a list of prohibited acts. According to Law No. 42/2024/QH15, these include the personal (individual) possession of weapons, explosive materials and support instruments, and the unauthorized manufacture, trade, import, export, storage, transport, repair, modification or use of military weapons and of hunting guns. In effect, an ordinary person may neither own a firearm nor keep firearm ammunition, and may not possess many air-powered or gas-powered guns that fall within the statutory weapon definitions.
Lawful weapon holding within the authorized organizations operates through a licensing and registration system administered by the police and defence authorities rather than through individual gun ownership. Authorized entities must obtain permits to hold and use weapons, and the weapons are registered with the competent authorities; possession outside this framework is unlawful. Because the licensing pathway is institutional, there is no civilian licence that a private resident can apply for to keep a handgun or rifle at home.
A narrow category of sporting weapons may be held and used by authorized sports organizations — such as recognized shooting clubs, training centres and competition bodies — under permits issued by the police, subject to inspection and record-keeping requirements. These weapons remain the responsibility of the authorized organization rather than the personal property of individual athletes. Antiques, heirlooms and display items that meet the definition of rudimentary or cold weapons are subject to declaration requirements with local police rather than to free private ownership.
Given this structure, the infobox records civilian ownership as prohibited and registration as required for the authorized holders who may lawfully possess weapons. Where the precise administrative procedure or documentary requirement is not set out in the sources consulted, it is left as unspecified rather than inferred.
Carry & transport
Because private individuals may not lawfully possess firearms in Vietnam, there is no civilian right to carry a firearm either openly or concealed, and no permit scheme through which a private person could obtain carry authority. According to Law No. 42/2024/QH15, the carrying and use of weapons is confined to authorized personnel of the armed forces and other equipped bodies acting within their official duties. For that reason the infobox records both open carry and concealed carry as "no" for civilians.
Members of the authorized forces carry and use weapons under service rules and the conditions set by their governing ministries. The law and its implementing regulations govern how equipped personnel may be issued, carry and use weapons in the performance of assigned tasks; the use of force with a firearm by such personnel is itself regulated and subject to conditions. These provisions do not extend any carrying entitlement to the general public.
Transport of weapons, ammunition and explosive materials is likewise restricted to authorized entities and is subject to permitting. According to Law No. 42/2024/QH15, the unauthorized transport of military weapons and of hunting guns is among the prohibited acts, and lawful transport by authorized bodies requires the appropriate permits and compliance with safety and route conditions. An ordinary person moving a firearm, ammunition or a controlled air/gas gun without authorization would fall within the prohibited conduct and be exposed to criminal liability under the Criminal Code.
The practical consequence for residents and visitors is that there is no lawful means to carry a firearm in public, in a vehicle, or between locations for personal purposes. Even items that in some countries are treated as low-risk — such as certain air guns, gas guns, or replica and "similar-function" weapons — may fall within the statutory weapon categories and therefore within the carry and transport prohibitions. Where a particular device's classification is uncertain, the conservative reading of the law is that it is controlled unless clearly excluded; the sources consulted do not provide an exhaustive device-by-device carry schedule, so specific edge cases are left as unknown rather than asserted.
Travel & import
Vietnam's import and export controls on weapons mirror its domestic prohibition: the cross-border movement of weapons, ammunition and explosive materials is reserved to authorized state entities and is otherwise prohibited. According to Law No. 42/2024/QH15, the unauthorized import and export of military weapons and hunting guns is expressly among the prohibited acts, and any lawful import or export is conducted by designated bodies under permit rather than by private persons.
For international travellers, the practical position is that firearms and ammunition cannot be brought into Vietnam for personal use. There is no tourist or visitor firearms permit corresponding to the hunting or sport-shooting visits offered in some other countries. Visitors should not assume that a firearm lawfully owned abroad, or air/gas guns and certain replica or "similar-function" weapons, may be carried into the country; such items fall within the controlled categories and their unauthorized importation is treated as a customs and criminal matter.
The Criminal Code reinforces this by treating the cross-border transport or trade of controlled weapons as an aggravating circumstance. According to the Criminal Code (Law No. 100/2015/QH13, as amended in 2017), where offences involving military weapons or explosive materials are committed by transporting or trading the goods across the border, the conduct falls within the higher penalty tiers of the relevant articles rather than the base offence.
Because sport shooting is organized through authorized domestic clubs and federations rather than through individual importation, athletes and teams do not import personal firearms in the manner of some jurisdictions; equipment is handled institutionally under the sporting-weapon provisions and their permits. Weapons matters arising in diplomatic, defence and security cooperation are governed separately by state-to-state arrangements and by the responsibilities the law assigns to the Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of Public Security.
Where a specific customs procedure, temporary-import exception, or declaration requirement might exist for narrowly defined official or event-related purposes, the sources consulted do not set it out in detail; such possibilities are noted here as unverified rather than described as established rules. As a matter of law, any person seeking to move a controlled item across the border must have prior authorization from the competent Vietnamese authorities.
Hunting & sport shooting
Hunting with firearms is not a lawful civilian activity in Vietnam under the current framework. According to Law No. 42/2024/QH15, hunting guns (súng săn) are a controlled weapon category, and the unauthorized manufacture, storage, trade, transport, repair, modification, use or appropriation of hunting rifles is listed among the prohibited acts. Combined with the general prohibition on individuals possessing weapons, this means a private person may not keep or use a hunting firearm. This continues and tightens earlier policy: over successive laws Vietnam moved from tolerating certain rudimentary or homemade hunting guns among rural and ethnic-minority communities toward a comprehensive prohibition, with hunting guns, muskets and air guns described in the sources as falling within the controlled or prohibited categories.
Sport shooting, by contrast, exists as a regulated activity conducted through authorized organizations rather than through private gun ownership. According to Law No. 42/2024/QH15, sporting weapons — a category that includes air rifles, air pistols, guns firing specialized sporting ammunition, and similar equipment used for training and competition — may be equipped to and used by authorized sports bodies. In practice these are recognized shooting clubs, sports training institutions and competition organizers operating under permits issued by the police, with the weapons registered to and controlled by the organization. Vietnam fields competitive shooters internationally, and this institutional model is the lawful route through which target shooting takes place.
For an individual, participation in the shooting sports therefore means joining and training under an authorized club or federation, using firearms that belong to and are secured by that organization, rather than acquiring a personal firearm and a personal licence. The weapons remain within the club's permitted inventory; they are not taken home or carried for personal use, consistent with the carry and transport restrictions described above.
The sources consulted do not set out a detailed public schedule of every calibre, energy threshold, or ammunition type permitted for sporting use, nor a step-by-step club-membership procedure. Those operational specifics are governed by implementing regulations and ministry lists and are left here as unspecified rather than inferred. What is clear from the primary law is the structural point: hunting with firearms is closed to civilians, while sport shooting is available only within the authorized, permit-based organizational framework.
Penalties
Penalties for weapons offences in Vietnam are set primarily by the Criminal Code (Law No. 100/2015/QH13, as amended in 2017), alongside administrative sanctions for lesser violations. The penalties scale with the type of weapon, the quantity involved, and the consequences of the conduct.
For military weapons, according to the Criminal Code (Law No. 100/2015/QH13, as amended in 2017), Article 304 provides that a person who illegally manufactures, stores, transports, uses or appropriates a military weapon or device faces 01–07 years' imprisonment at the base tier. The article escalates the penalty to 05–12 years, then 10–15 years, and at the most serious tier to 15–20 years' imprisonment or life imprisonment, depending on aggravating factors such as commission by an organized group, cross-border transport or trade, specified quantities of weapons or ammunition, and death or serious bodily harm. Article 304 also allows an additional fine and measures such as mandatory supervision or prohibition from residence for 01–05 years.
For the lower-tier weapon categories, according to the Criminal Code (Law No. 100/2015/QH13, as amended in 2017), Article 306 addresses the illegal manufacture, storage, transport, use, trading or appropriation of hunting rifles, cold weapons, sporting weapons, combat gear and other weapons with similar functions. Its base tier carries 03–24 months' imprisonment (applying where the person previously incurred a civil/administrative penalty or has an unexpunged conviction for the same offence), rising to 01–05 years' imprisonment for aggravated cases such as organized commission, larger quantities, cross-border movement, or death or serious injury, with a possible additional fine.
Related provisions address surrounding conduct. According to the Criminal Code (Law No. 100/2015/QH13, as amended in 2017), Article 305 penalizes illegal dealing in explosive materials, Article 307 penalizes violations of the rules on managing weapons, explosives and combat gear that cause serious harm, and Article 308 penalizes negligent management that allows misuse — each with graduated imprisonment tiers keyed to the resulting harm.
Beyond the Criminal Code, lesser breaches of the weapons rules are dealt with through administrative penalties, including fines and confiscation, under the government's decrees on administrative sanctions in the field of public order and security. The precise administrative fine amounts are fixed by those decrees; because the exact figures were not verified against the primary decree text for this article, they are described here qualitatively rather than quoted, and a reader relying on a specific amount should consult the current decree. In sum, unlawful dealing with firearms in Vietnam ranges from administrative fines for minor infractions to lengthy imprisonment — up to life imprisonment for the gravest military-weapon offences.
Sources
- Ninh Bình Provincial Police — Key contents of Law No. 42/2024/QH15 on the management and use of weapons, explosive materials and support instruments (official, accessed 2026-07-17)
- WIPO Lex — Criminal Code (Law No. 100/2015/QH13), English translation, Articles 304–308 (official, accessed 2026-07-17)
- Thư Viện Pháp Luật — Law No. 42/2024/QH15 on management and use of weapons, explosive materials and support instruments (English) (accessed 2026-07-17)
- LawNet — Entities equipped with military weapons from January 1, 2025 (summary of Law 42/2024/QH15) (accessed 2026-07-17)
- LegalClarity — Are Guns Legal in Vietnam? An Overview of the Law (accessed 2026-07-17)