Licences for firearms

All purchases or imports of weapons are subject to a licence from the police commissioner. Applications for them vary according to the types of firearms and the purpose and are based on rules on each category of licence.

Purchasing firearms

When firearms are sold/purchased, the purchaser must apply for a so-called purchase authorisation, but to obtain such an authorisation, the purchaser must have the rights to the firearm in question, although there are quite a few categories, but different ones, it is difficult to obtain the rights to each of them. After obtaining the purchase authorisation, the person concerned can then purchase the sale weapon, but when this is done, the seller of the weapon fills out a notification of its sale. When this notification is sent, it goes to the police commissioner, who ensures that the registration of the weapon on the property lists is correct.

Many people might then ask themselves, what is the motivation for the registration and registration of the weapon to the right person? The motivation is that the owner is obliged to keep the weapon in a normal manner, as well as firearms are expensive goods. Thus, both the motivation for the owner, that the weapon is a proven registered property of the person concerned, and also the motivation for the seller, that the weapon is no longer his responsibility.

Cabinets

Firearms owners shall store their firearms at their legal domicile, unless otherwise authorised by the police. It is mandatory to store firearms in gun-safes approved by the police. The same applies to silencers and all firearms components. It must also be ensured that unauthorized persons do not have access to gun-safes and therefore persons other than the weapons‘ owner should not have access to keys or know the passwords to the locks of the safes.

Guidelines apply to gun-safes, which pertain to how such cabinets should be made. It is important that the safes are locked at all times and their locks secure. The custody of firearms is the responsibility of the owner and it is important that firearms are always securely stored. In addition, ammunition must be stored in locked storages, separate from firearms. If ammunition is stored in a gun-safe, it must be in a separate, locked compartment.

Import and export of firearms

Imports of firearms are subject to severe restrictions and it can be said that all imports of weapons are prohibited unless a special exemption is issued before imports. Therefore it needs to be clear what purpose the weapons are imported for and what category they go into.

Categories of firearms

In order to import firearms, you must apply to the police and make sure that all documents that you ask for are included in order for the application to be processed as efficiently as possible. As firearms are listed in the restricted category of use A - B - C - D - S, more restrictions on importing and using weapons are more conditional. For example, weapons licensed under category D may only be used on designated targets that have been licensed as such.

Here you can find applications (only in Icelandic) for import and export of firearms – both for individuals and then legal entities, e.g. companies and sports clubs.

Imports of firearms are limited to what is allowed in Icelandic law and all weapons imported must fit the categories of rights that the law allows. The police have established guidelines for weapons and weapons components that are permitted to be imported. These guidelines (only in Icelandic) can be found below: