2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-FIVE - Internal Security (§§ 1 — 3356) › Subtitle 1 - Generally (§§ 1 — 1973) › PART V - Regulation of Firearms, Explosives, and Other Dangerous Devices (§§ 411-454 — 593) › Chapter 51A - Puerto Rico Arms Act of 2000 (§§ 455 — 460k) › Subchapter II - Licenses and Regulations (§§ 456 — 456o) › § 456a - Weapons license

(a) The Superintendent shall issue a weapons license to any petitioner who meets the following requirements:
(1) Has reached the age of twenty-one (21) years.
(2) Has a negative criminal record certificate issued not later than thirty (30) days prior to the date of the application and has not been accused of, nor is pending or in the process of trial for any of the crimes listed in § 456j of this title or its equivalent, in Puerto Rico, the United States or abroad.
(3) Is not habitually inebriated or addicted to controlled substances.
(4) Has not been declared mentally incompetent by a court.
(5) Has not incurred or belonged to organizations involved in acts of violence, or directed to the overthrow of the constituted government.
(6) Has not been dishonorably discharged from the Armed Forces, or removed from any of the law enforcement agencies of the Government of Puerto Rico or its municipalities.
(7) Is not under a court order which prohibits harassing, stalking, threatening, or proximity to an intimate partner, the children of the latter or to any person, and who does not have a record of violence.
(8) Is a citizen of the United States, or a legal resident of Puerto Rico.
(9) Is not a person who, having been a citizen of the United States at a given time, has renounced said citizenship.
(10) Has submitted a sworn statement attesting to compliance with fiscal laws; it being established that it shall be grounds to deny the issue of the license applied for or to revoke the same if the petitioner has failed to comply with the fiscal laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(11) Has purchased a one hundred dollar ($100) internal revenue stamp payable to the Puerto Rico Police; Provided, That in those cases whereby the license is denied, the amount paid shall not be reimbursed.
(12) Has submitted, together with the application, one (1) sworn statement from three (3) persons that are not related by consanguinity or affinity to the petitioner and that under penalty of perjury, attest to the fact that the petitioner enjoys a good reputation in the community, that he/she does not have a tendency to commit acts of violence, and that therefore they have no objection to the petitioner owning firearms. This statement shall be made in the form provided by the Superintendent along with the application for a weapons license.
(13) Has submitted the completed application, under oath, before a notary, accompanied by an impression of his/her fingerprints, taken by a technician of the Puerto Rico Police or a competent federal or state government agency, and that includes two (2) color photographs, two (2) inches by two (2) inches in size, sufficiently recent as to depict the petitioner in his/her true aspect at the time of the application.
(14) Has submitted a negative certification of debt from the Child Support Administration, issued not later than thirty (30) days prior to the date of the application.
(b) Every duly completed application, in duplicate, and together with the documents and voucher indicated above, shall be filed with the General Police Headquarters or the law enforcement agency of the area in which the applicant resides. The applicant shall retain a sealed copy for his/her records. Within the term of five (5) working days, the Superintendent shall issue a certification stating that the application and all the required documents have been submitted, or shall require compliance with the requirements for the application in order to issue the certification. After said certificate is issued, the Superintendent shall determine and certify in writing, within a term that shall not exceed one hundred and twenty (120) calendar days, that the applicant meets the requirements established in this chapter for granting a weapons license. This may be achieved through an investigation in the files of any government agency in Puerto Rico, the United States, or abroad, to which he/she may have access (including the archives of the National Crime Information Center and the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, among others). Should the Superintendent’s investigation result in a finding indicating that the person fails to meet all the requirements established in this chapter, the weapons license shall not be granted, but without it constituting an impairment, the applicant shall not be prevented from requesting said license again in the future. Should the Superintendent fail to issue a determination within the above mentioned term of one hundred and twenty (120) days, he/she shall be bound to issue a special provisional permit in favor of the applicant, within a term of ten (10) calendar days. Said special provisional permit shall grant all the rights, privileges and prerogatives of a regular license to carry weapons, for a term of sixty (60) calendar days, during which period the Superintendent [should reach] a decision. If upon the conclusion of the effectiveness of said provisional permit, the Superintendent has not yet reached a decision as to the suitability of the applicant, said provisional permit shall automatically become a regular weapons license.
(c) The Superintendent, discretionally and unobtrusively, without disrupting the peace and tranquility of the person under investigation or breaching the privacy of his/her home, may conduct as many investigations as he/she deems pertinent after remitting the license to the applicant; Provided, That regardless of whether the investigations are conducted or not, this shall not be an impediment for the license to be remitted under the terms indicated above. If after the pertinent investigation has been conducted by the Superintendent, it is found that the applicant has knowingly furnished false information in his/her application or does not meet the requirements established in this chapter, the license shall be immediately revoked and seized, as well as all the firearms and ammunition held by the applicant, who shall be subject to prosecution for the crime of perjury and for the corresponding violations of this chapter.
Any citizen to whom a license and/or permit is issued shall be responsible for the use of the licenses and the handling of the weapons, releasing the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its departments, agencies and municipalities from any liability for said individual use, except when these are vicariously liable for the acts of their employees or agents.
(d) The weapons license established in this section empowers the licensee to be the owner of a maximum of two (2) firearms, except as provided below, regarding acquisitions through inheritance, or when the licensee holds a target shooting or hunting permit, in which case there shall be no established limit. Provided, That any licensee who owns fifteen (15) weapons or more shall be bound to maintain eighty percent (80%) of these locked in a safe place fixed to the real property in such a manner that the weapons cannot be easily removed. Any licensee under the obligation to fulfill the safety requirement shall submit to the Superintendent a sworn statement attesting to the fact that he/she is in compliance with the safety requirement. The Superintendent shall impose an administrative fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each weapon property of the licensee that is removed due to noncompliance with the safety measures established herein. These safety requirements and the corresponding fine shall apply to any person who has more than fifteen (15) weapons in his/her possession: all licensees shall display in a conspicuous area visible to the clientele a clearly legible announcement notifying of this requirement. The license also empowers the licensee to acquire, buy, sell, donate, transfer, assign, hold, possess, have custody of and transport, bear and carry firearms, ammunition and any pertinent accessory anywhere under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; Provided, That:
(1) The firearms may be borne, carried, and transported in a hidden or unobtrusive manner, and the Superintendent shall provide by regulations, the procedure for any law enforcement officer as described herein, to issue a courtesy ticket which shall be prepared to such effect, which shall be remitted to the Puerto Rico Police Weapons License Office, to be filed with the record of the licensee. The Superintendent may impose a fine of up to two hundred dollars ($200) for recidivism in carrying or transporting arms in an ostentatious or conspicuous manner, as well as the procedure for the revision of the same, at the request of the interested party upon whom the fine is imposed. The Superintendent shall hold an administrative hearing within a term of not more than forty-five (45) days to uphold, review, modify or eliminate the imposed fine.
(2) Unless the licensee also holds a permit to carry weapons, the weapon may not be carried by the licensee on his/her person; and that to be able to transport said weapon without a permit to carry, the weapon must be unloaded and transported inside a closed case whose contents are not visible and which may not be in plain sight. Provided, That in the case of private security guards who hold a permit to carry, are uniformed and in the exercise of their duties, they may carry the weapon in plain sight.
(3) That the firearms or ammunition may only be donated, sold, transferred, assigned, left in the custody, or otherwise conveyed by the transfer of the control or command of the same to persons who own a weapons or gunsmith license or to any of the persons mentioned in § 456c of this title.
(4) The licensee may only transport one firearm at a time, except those licensees who also hold target shooting or hunting permits, who shall not be limited as to the number of firearms to be carried on their person while on the premises of an authorized gun club or in those places in which the hunting sport is practiced, pursuant to the applicable laws.
(5) The licensee shall only purchase ammunition of the caliber used by the weapons that he/she owns registered to his/her name.
(6) This license does not authorize the licensee to engage in the business of purchasing and selling firearms, limiting the purchase and sale thereof to his/her personal weapons.
(7) That this weapons license does not authorize the licensee to engage in the business of purchasing and selling firearms or ammunition, limiting the purchase and sale of the same to his/her personal firearms and ammunition.
(e) Within the term of forty-five (45) days from the date the weapons license is received, which may be extended for thirty (30) additional days if requested within the original term, any licensee shall file a certification issued by an authorized official of a gun club authorized in Puerto Rico, if he/she has not filed it before with the Puerto Rico Police General Headquarters, personally or by certified mail with acknowledgement of receipt, to the effect that the petitioner has approved a course in the correct and safe use and handling of firearms pursuant to this chapter. If the applicant fails to do so, he/she shall incur an administrative fault of one hundred dollars ($100) for each month in arrears, for up to a maximum of six (6) months, at the end of which the license shall be revoked and seized, as well as any weapon and ammunition the petitioner has acquired. For these purposes, the Superintendent shall authorize the purchase of up to a maximum of five hundred (500) rounds of ammunition in addition to those allowed by this chapter. Said ammunition shall have to be used completely by the petitioner during the training for certification. The provisions of this subsection shall not impair the provisions of subsection (d)(7) of this section.
The Superintendent shall handle any claim from the persons who for health reasons or special circumstances beyond their control are unable to comply with the certification duty imposed herein. In any case in which the Superintendent grants an extension, the new term for compliance with the requirements shall begin ten (10) days after the circumstances that led to the extension are no longer extant.
(f) The Puerto Rico Police shall issue the duplicates of weapons license cards that a licensee may want within a term of thirty (30) calendar days upon request after having paid fifty dollars ($50) in internal revenue vouchers per duplicate. In case of a change in license category, the cost for the category change shall be twenty dollars ($20).
Every weapons license shall have the date on which it must be updated, which shall be five (5) years after its issue, and no person may make any transaction of a firearm or ammunition, nor shoot in a gun club, nor hunt, bear, carry, or transport weapons, if he/she has not applied for the updating thereof as indicated in this chapter, under penalty that the weapons license be revoked and an administrative fine of five hundred dollars ($500) be imposed for shooting in a gun club or hunting, bearing, carrying or transporting weapons. After six (6) months have elapsed from the due date, he/she may only sell his/her firearms to a person with a dealer license.
Every five (5) years, on the fifth anniversary of the date of issue of the weapons license, the petitioner shall be bound to renew his/her license, by executing a sworn statement addressed to the Superintendent of Police, upon payment of the Internal Revenue vouchers provided in Section 2.02 of this Act, stating that the circumstances that gave rise to the original granting remain the same, or indicating the manner in which they have changed. This renewal may be made within six (6) months before, or thirty (30) days after the date the weapons license has expired. Failure to renew said weapons license after the abovementioned thirty (30) days, shall entail an administrative fine of fifty dollars (50) per month for up to a maximum of six (6) months, [the] amount which must be paid as a requirement for renewal. If the weapons license is not renewed within six (6) months, the Superintendent shall revoke the same and seize the weapons and ammunition[; Provided, That] the licensee may renew and reinstate his/her license within up to six (6) additional months after the revocation or seizure, whichever is later, through the payment of twice the amount of the accrued fine. None of the above shall prevent a person whose license has been revoked though failure to act, from de novo applying for another license which shall be granted, provided he/she has paid any fines pending, in which case, he/she may recover the seized weapons if the Superintendent has not yet disposed of them.
It is hereby provided that in the event the licensee is residing outside of Puerto Rico on the date the renewal of the license is due, or during the renewal period indicated above, the license shall not expire within the thirty (30) days of the licensee’s return to Puerto Rico.
It is further provided that if the licensee happens to be a woman, and if she were pregnant on the date the renewal of the license is due or during the period of renewal mentioned above, said period shall not expire until ninety (90) days have elapsed after the birth. In any case in which a pregnant women is bound, under the provisions of this chapter, to submit a training certificate, the term to submit the same shall begin ninety (90) days after the birth.
The Superintendent shall notify every licensee by mail to his/her mailing address, the date on which his/her license must be renewed, six (6) months prior to its expiration date. The Superintendent shall make available through the area police stations, the gunsmiths, and the Internet, all the forms needed to execute the renewal. Once the license has been renewed, the Superintendent shall issue the new license upon payment of the renewal fee, within the following thirty (30) calendar days, unless there is just cause to delay doing so.
Every licensee shall inform the Superintendent of his/her change of residential or mailing address within thirty (30) days of the change, under penalty of an administrative fine of two hundred dollars ($200), which shall be paid as a requirement for renewing the license.
(g) A person may at any time surrender his/her weapons license to the Police for its cancellation, and also surrender his/her weapons to the Police, or transfer the same to another person who owns a weapons or gunsmith license in force.
(h) It shall not be a requirement to own any firearms to obtain a weapons license and its categories.
—Sept. 11, 2000, No. 404, § 2.02; Jan. 10, 2002, No. 27, § 3; June 3, 2004, No. 137, § 3; Aug. 26, 2005, No. 89, § 1.
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