Firearm licensing policy

About this policy

This policy is issued by the Commissioner of the Coral Island Police Service under section 3 of the Firearms and Ammunition Ordinance 2026. It explains how the Commissioner uses the discretion the Ordinance gives when deciding applications for firearm certificates, carry permits and visitors' permits, and what holders must do.

The policy applies from 1 October 2026, when the Ordinance and the Firearms Regulations 2026 come into force. It does not replace the law. If this policy and the law differ, the law applies.

Who can hold which licence

Who is eligible for a certificate

To hold a firearm certificate you must (section 8):

• be 21 or over
• be a citizen of Coral Island or hold a residence permit. A work visa is enough only if you are employed as a security officer by a licensed security firm, and then the certificate covers only that work.
• have a registered address on the island where your firearms will be kept
• have a good reason for each firearm
• be a fit and proper person
• pass the safety test and the handling assessment
• have secure storage that a police officer has inspected and approved

Fit and proper. You will be refused if (section 9):

• there is an active warrant for your arrest in Coral Island or Los Santos
• you have been convicted of an offence punishable with imprisonment in the last 180 days
• you have ever been convicted of murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, kidnapping, a terrorist act, supplying a Class A drug, or a firearms offence that can be tried on indictment
• the Commissioner has reasonable grounds to believe you are a danger to the public or to yourself

Training. The written safety test has 20 questions on the law and safe handling, and the pass mark is 18. You also take a practical handling assessment with a police firearms officer or at a licensed range. If you fail either, you may try again after 24 hours (regulation 5). A firearms licence from Los Santos may count as evidence of training, but it does not excuse you from the test or the assessment.

Storage. Firearms are kept unloaded in a locked steel cabinet fixed to the building. Keep the keys on you or locked away separately, never with the cabinet, and keep ammunition in a separate locked compartment (regulation 6).

What counts as a good reason

You must show a good reason for every firearm on your certificate. The Commissioner looks for evidence, not a statement of intent.

Personal protection is not a good reason for a certificate.

A carry permit is exceptional (section 16). It is granted only to security officers, for duty, or where the Commissioner is satisfied, on information held by the Police Service, that there is a specific and continuing threat to your life that cannot reasonably be met in another way.

A certificate normally lists no more than 3 firearms. More are listed only where you show a good reason for each.

How to apply

1. Collect form FR1 from the firearms counter at the Police station, Puerto Coral.
2. Complete it, declaring every warrant and conviction recorded against you in Coral Island or Los Santos. A warrant or conviction you do not declare is grounds for refusal.
3. Ask your referee to complete their declaration on the form. Your referee must be a citizen or residence permit holder who has known you for at least 30 days.
4. Lodge the form in person at the firearms counter with proof of identity, proof of your status on the island (certificate of citizenship, residence permit or work visa) and your referee's declaration.
5. Pay the fee at the counter when you lodge the form, and keep the receipt.
6. Sit the written safety test and the handling assessment.
7. A police officer inspects the storage at your address at a time agreed with you.
8. The Commissioner decides your application within 14 days of the storage inspection and gives you the decision in writing.

There is no online application. Applications are not taken at Government House or at the Immigration desk.

Other licences and permits are applied for in the same way, on the forms listed in the Firearms Regulations 2026.

The checks made on your application

Before the Commissioner decides, the Firearms Registry:

• compares your declaration with the records held by the Los Santos authorities and the Court Registry
• may contact your referee
• may ask you to attend an interview at the Police station, Puerto Coral
• arranges the inspection of the storage at your registered address

The Commissioner may also take into account any other information held by the Police Service about your conduct.

Conditions of your certificate

Every certificate carries the standard conditions (regulation 15). You must:

• carry your certificate whenever you have a firearm away from your registered address, and show it to a police officer who asks
• store every firearm and its ammunition as regulation 6 requires
• report the loss or theft of a firearm, ammunition or your certificate to the Police Service within 24 hours
• tell the Firearms Registry about any transfer or change of address within 72 hours, on form FR8
• let a police officer inspect your storage on reasonable notice
• never take a firearm into a prohibited place
• never carry or use a firearm while unfit through drink or drugs
• use each firearm only for the good reason stated on your certificate

The Commissioner may add further conditions, which are stated on the certificate. Breaking a condition is an offence and may lead to your certificate being revoked.

Renewing a certificate

A certificate lasts 180 days (section 12). You can apply to renew it from 30 days before it expires, in person at the firearms counter, with the fee. A police officer inspects your storage again before it is renewed.

If you apply before your certificate expires, it stays in force until your application is decided. If it expires without being renewed, you have 7 days to transfer your firearms to another certificate holder or a dealer, or to hand them in at the Police station.

Carry permits, dealer's licences, range licences and security firm authorities last 90 days, and a visitor's permit up to 14 days. Each is renewed by a fresh application.

Refusal, suspension and revocation

• Refusal. The Commissioner gives written reasons for every refusal (section 13).
• Suspension. A certificate is suspended at once if a warrant is issued for your arrest or you are charged with an offence punishable with imprisonment.
• Revocation. A certificate is revoked if you are convicted of such an offence or no longer meet the eligibility rules. It may be revoked if you break a condition, if your storage is no longer safe, or if you made a false statement or failed to declare a warrant or conviction.
• Surrender. When a certificate is suspended or revoked you must hand in the certificate, your firearms and your ammunition at the Police station, Puerto Coral, within 24 hours. A police officer may seize them at once.
• Appeal. You can appeal to the Magistrates' Court within 14 days of receiving the reasons, by notice to the Court Registry, Government Complex, Puerto Coral (section 14). An appeal does not delay the duty to hand in your firearms.

Visitors and competitors

A visitor who holds a visa may shoot on Coral Island only under a visitor's firearm permit (section 33), or under supervision at a licensed range as described below.

• A visitor's permit covers shotguns and rifles (Categories B and C) only, never handguns.
• It is for target shooting at a licensed range or for lawful hunting.
• You must be 21 or over and a fit and proper person, and be sponsored in writing by a licensed range or a dealer.
• The Commissioner may ask you to pass the handling assessment first.
• It lasts up to 14 days and never beyond the expiry of your visa.
• When it is not in use, the firearm is kept at the sponsoring range or at the Police station, Puerto Coral, and it is carried there and back securely cased.

Your permit may cover a firearm belonging to your sponsor. If you want to bring your own, you also need an import permit for it and must declare it on arrival (see the border). Competitors coming for a shooting event apply in the same way, sponsored by the range holding the event.

A visitor without a permit may still shoot at a licensed range under the direct supervision of a range officer, using the range's own firearms (regulation 11).

Carrying a firearm

• Carry a firearm in a public place only securely cased (unloaded, in a closed and locked case, with the ammunition carried separately), going directly between your registered address, a licensed range, a dealer, the Police station or a place of lawful hunting (section 15).
• Shotguns and rifles are never carried uncased in public except while lawfully hunting or at a licensed range.
• Never leave a firearm or ammunition unattended in a vehicle or vessel.
• A carry permit allows only the handgun it names to be carried, loaded and concealed, for the purpose it states. It never allows a firearm in a prohibited place.
• Discharging a firearm in a public place, or within 50 metres of a public place, a road or a dwelling, is an offence, except at a licensed range or while lawfully hunting (section 19).

Prohibited places

No firearm, ammunition or prohibited weapon may be taken into these places, even with a certificate, a carry permit or a visitor's permit (Schedule 2):

• Government House and the Government Complex, Puerto Coral, including their grounds and public counters
• any court, the Court Registry, and anywhere a court is sitting
• the Police station, Puerto Coral, except to hand in or collect a cased firearm at the firearms counter
• Coral Island Airfield, including the terminal, and any aircraft, except a firearm being declared on arrival or carried under an import or export permit
• casinos, and anywhere gaming takes place under a licence or permit of the Coral Island Gaming Commission
• bars and other premises licensed to sell alcohol for drinking there, while they are open
• the Island Health Clinic
• any school, and any polling station on a polling day
• any event held under an event permit, and any public assembly or procession
• the Reef Line Protected Area, Mangrove Bay Marine Park and the Salt Pond Wildlife Reserve
• any protected place, including Coral Control and every Defence Force installation

It makes no difference whether a notice is displayed.

Bringing firearms to the island

• Every firearm, round of ammunition or component brought to or taken from Coral Island needs an import or export permit for that consignment, applied for at the firearms counter. Prohibited weapons are never permitted (section 31).
• On arrival, declare any firearm or ammunition at once to a police officer, an immigration officer or the Harbour Master, and deliver it unloaded to the Police station, Puerto Coral (section 32). It is held there until you produce a certificate or permit that covers it, or it leaves the island.
• Firearms, ammunition and prohibited weapons may not be carried on scheduled passenger flights between Sandy Shores Airfield and Coral Island Airfield (section 34).

A firearms licence issued in Los Santos is not valid on Coral Island.

Fees

A renewal costs the same as a first grant. The fees are set by the Fees and Charges Regulations 2026, as amended by the Fees and Charges (Amendment) Regulations 2026.

Fees are paid at the firearms counter when you lodge your application. They are not paid at the Immigration desk, with the payment command, or through this website, and are not refunded if the application is refused.

Surrender and the amnesty

You can hand in a firearm, ammunition or prohibited weapon at the Police station, Puerto Coral, at any time, and you are given a receipt (section 38). Items handed in are destroyed after 30 days unless they are returned under a certificate or kept as evidence. Prohibited weapons are never returned.

The amnesty, 1 to 31 October 2026. Anyone who hands in a firearm, ammunition or prohibited weapon during the amnesty is not prosecuted for having it. The amnesty does not cover any other offence (section 39).

If you already have a firearm. If you had a handgun, shotgun or rifle on the island on 1 October 2026, you may keep it at your address, unloaded and not carried in public, if you apply for a certificate by 31 October 2026. You may keep it on those terms until your application is decided. If it is refused, hand the firearm in within 7 days.

Prohibited weapons must be handed in by 31 October 2026.