In force Last amended 1/6/1444 AH
Saudi Weapons and Ammunition Law
نظام الأسلحة والذخائر
The Weapons and Ammunition Law of Saudi Arabia. This page presents the official Arabic text of each article with plain-English explanations.
- Articles
- 63
- In force
- 63
- Amended
- 5
- Issued
- 25/7/1426 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم م/45 بتاريخ 25 / 7 / 1426 · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم 193 بتاريخ 24 / 7 / 1426
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Weapons and Ammunition Law by topic
Types of Weapons and Their Definitions2 articlesLicensing to Carry and Own Weapons12 articlesCancellation of a Weapon License8 articlesInherited and Lost Weapons6 articlesImporting and Selling Weapons12 articlesWeapon Repair and Shooting Clubs5 articlesWeapons of Diplomats and Official Delegations3 articlesPenalty for Weapons Smuggling7 articlesPenalty for Possessing a Weapon Without a License5 articlesViolations in Using a Licensed Weapon6 articlesWeapon Confiscation and Trial Procedures12 articlesFinal Provisions and Entry into Force4 articles
Articles of the Saudi Weapons and Ammunition Law
- Article 1The article defines the key terms of the Weapons and Ammunition Law, such as military weapons, personal firearms, hunting weapons, air rifles, bladed weapons, ammunition, and antique weapons.
- Article 2The article states who may carry and use military and personal government weapons and their ammunition: military personnel of specified bodies and certain civilian government employees.
- Article 3The article limits the import, sale, and purchase of personal firearms, air rifles, and hunting weapons, with their accessories and ammunition, to licensed Saudis in accordance with the Regulations.
- Article 4The article prohibits anyone other than the competent government bodies from manufacturing and trading in military weapons or manufacturing personal firearms, and bars importing, selling, carrying, or bringing in weapons except with the Minister's license or permission.
- Article 5The article requires the Minister's license to import antique weapons and trade in them, allows bringing them in or carrying them along for collecting, and refers the conditions and procedures to the Regulations.
- Article 6The article requires anyone who comes into possession of weapons, spare parts, or ammunition by inheritance, bequest, or any other means to notify the competent authorities within three months.
- Article 7The article requires anyone whose weapon is lost or damaged to notify the competent authorities within one month of learning of the loss or damage.
- Article 8The article gives the Minister of Interior the power to determine the places and times in which carrying a weapon is prohibited, even if the weapon is licensed.
- Article 9The article allows the Minister to license the import, sale, purchase, carrying, acquisition, and repair of personal firearms, hunting weapons, training weapons, and air rifles, with their accessories, in accordance with the Regulations' conditions.
- Article 10The article allows the Minister to license certain Saudi institutions and companies to possess personal firearms and ammunition where the nature of their work requires arming some of their personnel.
- Article 11The article allows the Minister of Interior, for special considerations he sees, to license a person residing in the Kingdom to buy, carry, and acquire a personal firearm.
- Article 12The article allows the Minister to license the opening of shooting clubs, and refers the fees for the three classes of club license and the security registration fee to the schedule attached to the Law.Amended M/71
- Article 13The article allows the Minister to permit hunting weapons and personal protection weapons to transit Saudi territory, in line with international laws and customs, the laws of the destination country, and the Regulations' conditions.
- Article 14The article requires those licensed to import personal firearms or hunting weapons, or to buy and sell them, to take all safety measures in transporting and storing them.
- Article 15The article requires those licensed to import weapons of all types, or to buy and sell them, to keep special records of them according to the forms and procedures set by the Regulations.
- Article 16The article allows the Minister, based on the requirements of the public interest, to refuse a license application or to restrict or cancel an existing license.
- Article 17The article provides that all licenses issued under the Weapons and Ammunition Law benefit only the licensee himself.
- Article 18The article sets out four cases in which a license to carry or acquire a weapon is cancelled, and states who disposes of the weapon and its ammunition after cancellation in three of them.
- Article 19The article sets two cases in which a license to import personal firearms, or licenses to sell, buy, or repair them, is cancelled: death or loss of capacity, and loss of one of the license conditions.
- Article 20The article refers to the Regulations the procedures and conditions for changing the activity or assigning it to someone else, for those licensed to import personal firearms and their ammunition or to sell or buy them.
- Article 21The article bars giving a person whose license was cancelled any new license for any other weapon, except in the cases determined by the Regulations.
- Article 22The article refers to the Regulations the procedures to be taken if a weapon license is lost or damaged.
- Article 23The article allows granting a license to acquire more than one personal firearm, in accordance with what the Regulations determine.
- Article 24The article bars granting a carrying license for more than one personal firearm, refers the type of that weapon to the Regulations, and allows the Minister in special cases to license carrying more than one weapon.
- Article 25The article refers to the schedule attached to the Law the fees for thirteen weapons-related licenses and a permit, and allows the Council of Ministers to amend them based on the Minister's proposal.Amended M/71
- Article 26The article allows the Minister to authorize someone holding a licensed weapon to travel with it outside the Kingdom, provided the destination country and the countries of transit permit it.
- Article 27The article allows compensation equal to the value of a licensed weapon and its ammunition if it is decided to hand it over to the State in the cases that require this, as the Regulations determine.
- Article 28The article prohibits practicing the profession of repairing firearms of all types except with a license from the Minister, and refers the license conditions and the licensee's duties to the Regulations.
- Article 29The article prohibits repairing any weapon that is not licensed under the provisions of the Weapons and Ammunition Law and its Implementing Regulations.
- Article 30The article prohibits making any modification to the mechanism of weapons or the ways of loading them that makes them more dangerous.
- Article 31The article allows members of the diplomatic and consular corps accredited to the Kingdom to bring in, carry, and acquire ordinary personal weapons by license and on condition of reciprocity, and restricts transferring their ownership.
- Article 32The article allows Saudi diplomatic and consular corps members working abroad to bring their personal weapons into the Kingdom after their work ends, in accordance with the Regulations.
- Article 33The article allows members of official or military delegations and persons on official missions to bring along and carry their ordinary official personal weapons, in accordance with international custom, on condition of reciprocity, and with prior notice to the Ministry.
- Article 34The article punishes with imprisonment of up to thirty years and a fine of up to SAR 300,000 anyone who smuggles, uses, or deals in military or personal weapons with the intent of disturbing internal security.
- Article 35The article punishes with imprisonment of up to twenty years and a fine of up to SAR 200,000, or either, anyone who smuggles military weapons, their parts or ammunition, or manufactures them, with the intent of trade.
- Article 36The article punishes with imprisonment of up to fifteen years and a fine of up to SAR 150,000, or either, anyone who carries, acquires, sells, or buys a military weapon or its ammunition.
- Article 37The article punishes with imprisonment of up to ten years and a fine of up to SAR 100,000, or either, anyone who manufactures personal weapons, their parts or ammunition, or smuggles them into the Kingdom with the intent of trade.
- Article 38The article punishes with imprisonment of up to five years and a fine of up to SAR 30,000, or either, smuggling hunting weapons for trade, smuggling personal firearms for personal use, manufacturing hunting weapons, and modifying their mechanisms.
- Article 39The article punishes with imprisonment of up to two years and a fine of up to SAR 7,000, or either, anyone who buys a personal firearm or ammunition without a license, or sells either.
- Article 40The article punishes with imprisonment of up to eighteen months and a fine of not more than SAR 6,000, or either, anyone proven to possess a personal firearm or ammunition without a license.
- Article 41The article punishes with imprisonment of up to one year and a fine of not more than SAR 5,000, or either, thirteen violations, including using a weapon for a purpose other than its license, hunting with a firearm, and lending a weapon.
- Article 42The article punishes with imprisonment of up to six months and a fine of not more than SAR 3,000, or either, anyone who has information about unlicensed trade in weapons or their smuggling and does not inform the competent authorities.
- Article 43The article sets a fine of up to SAR 2,000 for violations including late renewal of activity licenses, failing to dispose of a weapon after its license is cancelled, possessing an air rifle without a license, and failing to report its loss.Amended
- Article 44The article punishes with a fine of up to SAR 1,000 anyone who carries his licensed weapon in places and at times where carrying weapons is prohibited, and refers the determination of them to the Regulations.
- Article 45The article punishes with a fine of up to SAR 1,000, and a two-year ban on any new weapon license, anyone proven to have lost his weapon by theft or loss as a result of his negligence.
- Article 46The article punishes with a fine of SAR 100 to 500 for each year of delay anyone who fails to renew an expired carrying or acquisition license, or to report an inherited weapon, within three months.
- Article 47The article punishes anyone proven to have sold or given away inside the Kingdom weapons and ammunition permitted to transit its territory with the penalties for weapons smugglers, according to the type of weapon.
- Article 48The article provides that anyone proven to have participated in committing any violation under the Weapons and Ammunition Law is punished with the penalty set for the violation itself.
- Article 49The article applies the Weapons and Ammunition Law's penalties, except imprisonment, to institutions, companies, and any other establishment proven to have violated its provisions.
- Article 50The article provides for the confiscation by judicial ruling of seized weapons, ammunition, and equipment, and of the means of transport in smuggling, and sets what happens to seized items when proceedings cannot be brought or lapse.Amended
- Article 51The article requires aggravating the penalties in Articles 34, 35, and 36 if the violator is an employee of the bodies concerned with applying the Weapons and Ammunition Law.
- Article 52The article assigns the investigation of violations of the Weapons and Ammunition Law to the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution.
- Article 53The article creates a three-member committee by decision of the Minister to consider imposing the penalties in Articles 43 (except paragraph c), 44, 45, and 46, and allows a grievance against its decisions before the Administrative Court within sixty days.Amended
- Article 54The article gives the Board of Grievances jurisdiction to hear the cases of violators of the Weapons and Ammunition Law and impose penalties, without prejudice to the committee's jurisdiction under Article 53.
- Article 55The article provides that applying the penalties of the Weapons and Ammunition Law does not prevent applying any heavier penalty provided for in another law.
- Article 56The article allows the Minister to suspend accountability proceedings against anyone who voluntarily and promptly reports the unlicensed weapons and ammunition he has and shows readiness to hand them over before they are seized.
- Article 57The article allows the Board of Grievances to suspend the execution of a prison sentence for violations of the Law for considered reasons, unless the violator was previously sentenced and repeated the same violation, and regulates cancelling the suspension and the lapse of the judgment's effects.
- Article 58The Minister may permit weapons or ammunition that arrived through customs ports without prior permission to be re-exported within six months if they were declared before seizure; otherwise they are confiscated by court judgment.
- Article 59The Minister may grant a reward not exceeding the value of the fine imposed to anyone who reports weapons trafficking or smuggling, if the report leads to seizure of the weapons and conviction of the violators.
- Article 60The article authorizes the Minister to determine the departments and branches entrusted with implementing the Weapons and Ammunition Law, their regions and their powers, in line with the public interest.
- Article 61The article allows the Minister to delegate some of the powers given to the Minister under the Weapons and Ammunition Law to whomever the Minister sees fit.
- Article 62The article provides that the Weapons and Ammunition Law replaces the earlier law issued by Royal Decree No. M/8 dated 19/2/1402 AH and repeals whatever conflicts with it.
- Article 63The article provides that the Weapons and Ammunition Law and its Regulations apply one hundred and eighty days after publication in the Official Gazette, and requires the Minister to issue the Regulations within that period.