Georgia is one of the few countries in the region where a civilian may keep a short-barrelled firearm at home for self-defence, not just a hunting gun. The procedure is transparent and cheap: an exam, a medical certificate, registration at the Service Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs — and the permit is issued the same day. Below: what the law counts as a civil weapon, who will be refused, what each step costs, and what you will have to change at home to store a weapon lawfully.
- The permit comes from the Service Agency of the MIA (sa.gov.ge), not from the police: registering a weapon costs 30 GEL and takes 1 working day.
- The exam has been mandatory since 1 November 2015: 15 questions, at least 13 correct, 20 minutes, 20 GEL.
- Three exam categories: self-defence and gas weapons, sporting, hunting — you sit the one for your category.
- You will be refused for a criminal record, mental illness, alcohol or drug dependency, or an active restraining order.
- Storage is the owner's responsibility: the law requires you to exclude access by outsiders and any accidental discharge — in practice, a safe.
What the law treats as a civil weapon
The governing document is the Law of Georgia on Weapons. Article 4 splits civil weapons into categories, and the category determines both the exam and the registration route:
| Category | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Self-defence weapons | Short-barrelled firearms, gas weapons, electroshock devices, spray devices |
| Sporting | For shooting sports, including short-barrelled |
| Hunting | Smoothbore and rifled |
| Signal | Flare guns; registered under a separate procedure |
| Sound (acoustic) | Blank-firing; a private individual is prohibited from carrying it |
| Collectible and antique | Flint-lock, wick and capsule firearms |
One provision states an age explicitly: from 18 a person may acquire a sound (acoustic) weapon and buy and carry a gas spray device or an electroshock device. For firearms, open sources give different ages (18 and 21), so check your own category with the agency rather than with forums.
Who will be refused
The law spells out the grounds for refusal — the most useful part if you are weighing your chances:
- being under 18;
- mental illness or another health condition that precludes issuance;
- alcoholism, drug addiction, solvent abuse;
- an unspent conviction or the status of an accused person;
- an active restraining or protective order (typically in domestic violence cases);
- unpaid administrative penalties that restrict weapon rights;
- gross breach of public order;
- a real threat that the person will commit an offence — a discretionary ground left to the agency.
Another rule few people know about: if a person already has more than three units of short-barrelled self-defence or sporting firearms registered to them, the agency may additionally require those weapons to be presented for technical inspection.
The exam
Since 1 November 2015 the exam is mandatory: without it the registration will not be completed. It is straightforward:
- 15 questions, at least 13 correct;
- 20 minutes in total;
- the questions are about Georgian legislation on the circulation of weapons, not about ballistics;
- study materials are published in the personal account at my.sa.gov.ge, separately for each category;
- documents for the exam: an identity document, a mental health certificate and the payment receipt.
The exam is category-specific. If you want both a hunting gun and a short-barrelled self-defence firearm, that is two separate exams and two payments of 20 GEL.
Step by step
- Health certificate. A psychiatric (and usually narcological) certificate. The agency also accepts a valid driving licence as proof — it already implies a medical check.
- Payment and the exam at the Service Agency, for your category.
- Permit to acquire — 30 GEL, issued within one working day.
- Purchase at a licensed shop; the seller passes on the data for registration.
- Registration in your name and issue of the certificate — that is the document you show to the police.
Buying second-hand adds a ballistic examination (test firing and entry into the database) — 20 GEL and up to 10 working days — plus the transfer from the previous owner.
What it costs
The official rates are set by a separate law on the fees of the Service Agency — these are state fees, not a shop's price list:
| Service | Fee | Time limit |
|---|---|---|
| Registration, re-registration, writing off — per unit | 30 GEL | 1 working day |
| Exam (any of the three categories) | 20 GEL | — |
| Registration certificate | 15 GEL | 1 working day |
| Interim weapon certificate | 10 GEL | 1 working day |
| Ballistic examination | 20 GEL | 10 working days |
| Certificate on the legal status of a weapon | 20 GEL | 5 working days |
| Additional major element (barrel and the like) | 10 GEL | 1 working day |
Rates are quoted from the law on the fees and time limits for services of the MIA Service Agency; check the version in force before your visit — fees are revised from time to time.
Storage and carrying
The law frames storage requirements by outcome rather than by a specific safe: the owner must ensure the weapon is protected, exclude an accidental discharge and exclude access by unauthorised persons. The concrete requirements are set by an order of the Minister of Internal Affairs.
In practice that means a lockable metal box fixed to a wall or floor — and this is the one cost item that touches your home directly. If you rent, fixing a safe to the wall has to be agreed with the owner: drilling walls without permission is already a deposit question, see rental disputes.
On carrying, the law separately prohibits:
- carrying a gas (air) weapon openly on display in a public space;
- carrying a sound (acoustic) weapon by a private individual at all;
- transporting a signal weapon other than in a case, unloaded and separate from the cartridges.
For foreigners: import and export
The law allows a civil weapon to be acquired by "a citizen of Georgia or of a foreign country who meets the requirements established by the legislation of Georgia" — so a foreigner is not excluded, but the specific requirements are not spelled out in the law itself. This is the case where only the agency can answer for your particular status (visa, residence permit — see residence permits).
What is fixed precisely are the fees for moving a weapon across the border:
| Operation | Fee |
|---|---|
| Foreign national: bringing in and taking out a hunting or sporting firearm | 10 GEL per weapon + 0.1 GEL per cartridge |
| Foreign national: taking out a civil weapon bought in Georgia | 10 GEL per weapon |
| Georgian national: bringing in and taking out a civil or gas weapon | 10 GEL per unit + 0.1 GEL per cartridge |
What is prohibited
A separate article lists what may not be a civil weapon under any permit:
- firearms that imitate the shape of another object;
- long automatic firearms;
- illegally manufactured or converted firearms;
- weapons charged with nerve-paralytic substances;
- electric fishing devices.
This article is for reference. The wording of the Law on Weapons and the fee rates change from time to time, and part of the requirements for foreigners is set by MIA secondary legislation — before filing, check the version in force at matsne.gov.ge and the Service Agency site sa.gov.ge.