Gunlaws in Argentina
O.D// ARGENTINA //
Gunlaws in Argentina have an interesting history, being one of the handful of nations which does explicitly mention the Argentine people's right to being armed, this refers to article 21st of the Argentine Constitution:
Art. 21.- Todo ciudadano argentino está obligado a armarse en defensa de la patria y de esta Constitución, conforme a las leyes que al efecto dicte el Congreso y a los decretos del Ejecutivo nacional. Los ciudadanos por naturalización son libres de prestar o no este servicio por el término de diez años contados desde el día en que obtengan su carta de ciudadanía.
Art. 21.- Every Argentine citizen is obliged to arm himself in defense of the country and of this Constitution, in accordance with the laws issued by Congress and the decrees of the National Executive. Citizens by naturalization are free to provide this service or not for a term of ten years from the day they obtain their citizenship letter.
While ownership of arms is a declared right, the article does also explicitly mention that it does however fall under accordance of the laws of Congress and the decrees of the National Executive which delegates the matter today to the ANMAC agency which generally promotes an agenda of disarmament, hence why Argentina doesn't enjoy widespread and free ownership of arms, however Argentine gunlaws remain as some of the best in the region and the world.
Firearms are regulated under the LEY NACIONAL DE ARMAS Y EXPLOSIVOS N# 20.429 put in place 21st of March 1973.
Licenses:
Argentina similar to most of the world has a license system, we'll be focusing exclusively on those attainable for civilians and not those for corporations.
Before getting any license if you intend to utilize a firearm for any use you must first obtain a CLU (Credencial de Legitimo Usuario) which certifies you as a legitimate user of arms, this however doesn't allow you to purchase firearms freely over the counter as each individual gun you purchase requires a Tenencia license which doesn't expire, these are the two main types:
A) Tenencia de armas de uso civil 10.000 AR$
B) Tenencia de armas de uso civil condicional 10.000 AR$
Both of these licenses are shall issue and can be expedited for a fee,(another 10.000 AR$) as of today August 17th the non expedited time is around 1-1.5 months and the expedited is taking around 7 to 10 days to process.
Also for each caliber you own you're going to need a munitions card which costs a further 8.000 AR$ and allows you to own up to 1k rounds of centerfire at any given time except for smoothbore and rimfire ammunition which allows up to 2.5k rounds, this is unenforced.
Type A:
- Shoulder fired guns:
* Carbines and Rifles: Semiautomatic, Manual repeating, Single shot
Up to .22LR
* Shotguns: Single shot, Manual repeating
Any gauge allowed, at least 600mm/23.6 inch long barrel
- Handguns:
* Pistol: Manual repeating, Semiautomatic, Single shot
Up to 25 acp, Up to .32 long for single shot
* Revolver: Single and Double action
Up to .32 long
* Pistolon: Single and Double barrel
28, 32, 36 gauge or their equivalents.
Type B:
Everything in Type A plus the following.
- Shoulder fired guns:
* Carbines and Rifles: Manual repeating, Single shot, Semiautomatic
Any caliber allowed, however if the Semiautomatic uses a caliber larger than .22LR then it cannot have a detachable magazine.
Example: M1 Garand, FN49, SKS
Despite being literal weapons of war these weapons do not fall under the LEGAL weapons of war category due to them not having detachable magazines nor being select-fire nor full auto.
* Shotguns: Manual repeating, Single shot, Semiautomatic
No gauge restriction, barrel lenght must be at least 380mm/14.9 inches
- Handguns:
* Pistol: Manual repeating, Semiautomatic, Single shot
No caliber restriction.
As of recently ANMAC allows PCCs with detachable magazines to be imported and legally classified as Pistols, even if you attach a stock to them, just as they allow RONI kits to be attached to pistols.
* Revolver: Double and Single action
No caliber restriction
Weapons of war, not allowed for civilians:
- Anything full auto
- Semiautomatic rifles with detachable magazines
- Silencers
- Grenade and Gas launchers
- Flamethrowers with a range larger than 3 meters
- Rocket launchers
- Crew served weapons
- Nukes
- Biological and Chemical weapons
STORAGE:
- SDG-A1: 1 to 9 Firearms
- Behind a reinforced locked door or a safe
It must also follow at least one of these requirements:
* Stored unloaded and separate from their ammo
* Stored in a tall place or under locl
* Stored with dedicated gunlocks
* Place of safe storage counts with break-in alarms or iron bars.
- SDG-A2: 10 to 49 Firearms
* At least one room, warehouse, compartment or enclosure where I store the controlled material, with access doors armored or security bars, and bars on windows and/or openings when they are located in houses, premises or ground floors of buildings with a view or access from the outside (street, adjoining buildings, patios, others.) as long as they do not have permanent surveillance personnel
OR
* Safe or metal security gun rack, which must be bolted to the floor or wall as long as they weigh less than 150 kg.
* The SDG must have the capacity to store all the material and must have security locks of the double pallet type or higher.
* The accesses and openings of the SDG or the place where the SDG is located must have opening and/or movement and/or upper sensors, in such a way that upon detection of a risk of undue or unexpected intrusion, alert by means of an audible alarm with a pressure level of not less than 110 dB.
- SDG-A3: 50 Firearms or more
Same as SDG-A2 but approved on a case by case basis.
TRANSPORT:
- Transport must be done with the weapon under storage.
(cardboard box, zipped up bag, case)
- If it takes a magazine then it must be removed
- Ammunition must be transported separately from the storage which has the firearm and cannot be carriedly loosely (cannot be in your pocket, must be at least in a box or plastic bag)
CARRY:
Carrying of a firearm is considered having the firearm in immediate ready use, which for legal purposes treats transporting an unloaded firearm without a box the same as carrying a shotgun on a sling while on patrol.
- Carrying without a license:
You can carry without a license within your private property both commercial and residential, however for commercial carry it can only be done if it's not considered of public access, Example: If you own a restaurant you cannot carry during normal operating hours but you are free to carry outside of those hours, if you have a business where only your employees are allowed in then you can carry during working hours as well.
- Carrying with a license:
With a license you can carry in the entire Argentine territory and its flagged vessels everywhere except those places which it's not explicitly allowed.
Getting a carry license is something which practically speaking is impossible, while the licenses should be shall issue they are not being issued by ANMAC unless you're a judge, military veteran, retired police or you have contacts within ANMAC that can step in for you and approve it.
DEFENSIVE USE:
Should you happen to utilize a gun for self defense Argentina is generally good when it comes to it provided the following happens:
- Your life or that of others was in imminent danger
It's a simple bar to follow but it will lead to a legal battle between your defense attorney and the prosecutor's desire to nail you, the interior of the country has better prosecutors than the big cities so keep that in mind.
In Summary Argentina actually has fairly decent gunlaws when compared to most of the world and even a lot of the states within the US, should Milei win one of the things that he's campaigning on is to relax further the current regulations in Argentina and to make carry licenses truly be shall issue, maybe even incorporating them automatically to your CLU, but that of course remains to be seen.