Frequently asked questions about weapons

Click here to find information about expired certificates.

This includes certificates for reloading and for pointed and sharp weapons as well as authorisation of employees and applies to both private individuals and businesses.

Find out more about how you cancel your certificate.

If you do not want to renew your certificate when it expires, you must dispose of your weapon.
See the section on disposal of weapons.

A certificate to acquire, possess, carry and/or use pointed and sharp weapons is not confined to a certain number of pointed and sharp weapons. This means that your certificate allows you to possess an unlimited number of pointed and sharp weapons for use in a club or lodge or as part of a uniform at private events if you serve in the Danish Armed Forces or the Danish Home Guard.

If you are a member of more than one club where you carry or use pointed and sharp weapons, you will need a certificate for each club.

If you no longer want a certificate for your weapon, you can either sell the weapon to an arms dealer or to a person who can lawfully possess the weapon. A transfer of the weapon requires a valid certificate. You can also hand in the weapon to the police for the purpose of destruction.

See the section on disposal of weapons.

As a former (due to the expiry of the certificate) co-owner of a weapon, you may no longer possess, carry or use the weapon if your certificate has expired.

However, the other owner of the weapon may still use the weapon if he or she has a valid certificate.

The following types of weapons require permission from the police:

• All types of firearms that have not been deactivated, such as rifles, shotguns, pistols, airguns, combined gas and signal weapons, etc.
• Weapon components, such as receivers and bolts produced or imported after 14 September 2018
• Sights with an electronic light amplification device or light beam
• Ammunition, such as gunpowder, lead pellets, cartridge cases and bullets
• Daggers and knives with a blade length exceeding 12cm unless the knife is used for a legitimate purpose such as occupation, sports, hunting or fishing
• Pepper sprays
• Crossbows and slingshots
• Salute cannons
• Potato cannons and similar home-made devices that are let off using air pressure or gas
• Explosives

Note: If you have turned 18, you may possess harpoons and airsoft and paintball guns as well as the matching cartridges without permission from the police. If you are below the age of 18, you will need permission.

 

Weapons that do not require a certificate but must be registered

If you have a valid hunting licence, you do not need permission to purchase a shotgun, but you must always register your weapons with the police.

Also, you do not need a certificate to buy historical muzzle loaders manufactured before 1870, breech loaders manufactured before 1870 which cannot use fixed ammunition, airguns with a maximum calibre of 4.5mm as well as correctly deactivated firearms. See more about deactivation of firearms.

Striking weapons, knives and other pointed and sharp weapons

Tasers, laser weapons, knuckledusters, bludgeons, rubber truncheons and a number of knives and other pointed and sharp weapons, such as neck knives, flick knives, butterfly knives, throwing axes, etc., require permission from the police. Permission is only granted in exceptional cases and if very particular circumstances apply.

Find out more about what striking and pointed and sharp weapons require permission under the Danish Offensive Weapons Act (våbenloven) and the Act on Knives and Bladed and Pointed Articles (knivloven) at Retsinformation.dk.

 

you want to use the weapon for, where you intend to store the weapon and what type of weapon you want. In the case of firearms, you must also provide information about specific weapons data, including weapon number, length of barrel and loading system.

In order to obtain a certificate, you must provide the information and documents requested. Moreover, applications for certain types of certificates are subject to a fee. In the case of pointed and sharp weapons, no fee is charged for an application for a weapon certificate, whereas an application for a firearm certificate costs DKK 1,085 irrespective of whether you are granted a certificate or not. No fee is charged for the registration of an air rifle with a maximum calibre of 4.5mm or a shotgun that you are allowed to possess by virtue of your hunting licence. Nor is any fee charged for applications for certificates for ammunition, reloading, barrels, detachable loading devices, breech blocks, sound moderators, optical sights, alarm and signal weapons, combined gas and signal weapons, salute cannons, etc.

When you have lodged your application, it will be forwarded for processing by the police's Permit Department (Tilladelser), which will make a personal background check of you for the purpose of assessing whether it is safe to give you access to weapons. The personal background check will bring to light any data about you stored in the police records. If, on that basis, the Weapons Department finds that it is a cause for concern to give you access to weapons, you will be given the opportunity to comment on the data before the Permit Department makes a decision on your application. The personal background check is not made in connection with applications for firearms passes and the registration of shotguns or airguns. Find out more about personal background checks.

The fee payable for each firearm certificate that you apply for is DKK 1,085 irrespective of whether you are granted a certificate or not.

No fee is charged for the registration of a shotgun that you are allowed to possess by virtue of your hunting licence. Nor is any fee charged for applications for certificates for pointed and sharp weapons, ammunition, reloading, barrels, slides, cylinders, bolts and receivers, detachable loading devices, sound moderators, optical sights, alarm and signal weapons, combined gas and signal weapons, salute cannons, etc.

The rules on payment appear from section 6b of the Offensive Weapons Act which is available in Danish at retsinformation.dk (opens a new tab). Please note that the fee has subsequently been changed, see section 2 of Act No. 124 of 30 January 2021.

See the rules governing the import and export of weapons under Import/export of weapons.

Normally, you must have a valid hunting licence before the police can issue you with a certificate for a hunting rifle and the matching weapon components. You can use your hunting licence to buy a shotgun without any weapon certificate, but you must register the weapon with the police.

You can apply for a hunting licence at Mit jagttegn at the website of the Danish Agency for Green Transition and Aquatic Environment (Styrelsen for Grøn Arealomlægning og Vandmiljø). In order for you to obtain a hunting licence, the police must give their consent. Therefore, you will be asked to give the Agency for Green Transition and Aquatic Environment permission to obtain consent from the police in connection with the processing of your application.

In order to obtain consent to a hunting licence from the police, it must be deemed safe to give you access to weapons. The Permit Department will therefore make a personal background check of you in the police records.Find out more about personal background checks

If the Weapons Department makes the assessment that you cannot be issued with a hunting licence, you will be informed by letter from the Permit Department, and you will be given the opportunity to comment on the police's information before the Permit Department makes a decision. If the Weapons Department decides to refuse the request for consent to a hunting licence, the Permit Department will inform the Agency for Green Transition and Aquatic Environment about the decision but not the reason for it.

The periods of validity for the most common types of certificates are as follows:

• Hunting weapons, interchangeable barrels and pipes: 10 years
• Optical sights: 5 years
• Reloading, black powder and clay pigeon shooting weapons: 5 years
• Collections of firearms, combined gas and signal weapons, detachable loading devices, loaded and discharged cartridges: 5 years
• Collections of pointed and sharp weapons: 10 years
• Pointed and sharp weapons for use: 5 years
  
  The period of validity appears from your certificate, and it is your responsibility to apply for a renewal of your certificate in due time before it expires. We will send you a reminder to renew your certificate in due time before it expires. Find out more about expiry of certificates 
  
  It is a requirement for holding a weapon certificate that you can pass a personal background check of the data stored on you in the police records throughout the lifetime of the certificate. If you commit a crime or display any other disturbing behaviour that in our view might constitute a risk, we can withdraw your certificate before expiry.

Weapons, weapon components and ammunition must always be stored securely and in a place that is inaccessible to third parties. This means that as the owner of a weapon you are responsible for storing the weapon in such a way that it does not fall into the hands of the wrong people, such as a child or a burglar.

Firearms must be stored in an approved gun cabinet or box, but the police recommends that other weapon types are also kept under lock and key for security reasons. The rules are set out in section 24 of the Danish Executive Order on Weapons and Ammunition (bekendtgørelse om våben og ammunition).

The rules on gun cabinet storage do not apply to temporary storage of firearms for hunting, shooting competitions or other legitimate purposes. Firearms may only be stored temporarily from the day before until the day after the event where you are to use the weapon. In connection with temporary storage, firearms and ammunition must either be kept under constant supervision or be stored securely in a place that is inaccessible to third parties, for example in a locked room, in a gun cabinet or fixed to a wall. Make sure to store weapons and ammunition separately unless you use an approved gun cabinet.

In the case of businesses and clubs, the storage facilities must be approved by the police before they are put into use. As for the storage of explosives, requirements apply to the level of security, security distances and the installation of fire extinguishing equipment. The rules are set out in sections 5 to 7 of the Danish Executive Order on Explosives (eksplosivbekendtgørelsen).

When transporting weapons, you must make sure that the transportation is undertaken in a safe manner. Accordingly, you must make sure that third parties cannot get access to the weapons and that the weapons cannot cause any injuries.

You may transport firearms and ammunition from the place where you normally store your weapons directly to the place where you are to use the weapons, such as a hunting area or shooting range. You may not make a stopover on the way. You may also transport firearms in connection with the purchase, sale, repair and other similar legitimate purposes. Again, the weapons must be transported directly from your place of storage to the place where you have a legitimate purpose for carrying your weapons.

When transporting firearms and ammunition, you must keep the weapons under constant supervision. The firearms must be wrapped up in closed sleeves or the like and they must not contain ammunition during transport. Firearms may not be transported in waist or shoulder holsters on the body.

The rules governing the transportation of weapons are set out in section 11 of the Executive Order on Weapons (opens a new tab).

If your weapon is stored at your registered address and you move to a new address in Denmark with your weapon, it is not necessary to register any change to your weapon certificate. You must only register changes in connection with a change of address if:

• you have up to now stored your weapon at home but will in future store the weapon at another address than your registered address.

• you have up to now stored your weapon outside your home and will now move your weapon to some other place.

If you move abroad and want to bring your weapon, you must apply for a licence to export your weapon. Similarly, if you move to Denmark from abroad and want to bring your weapon, you must apply for a licence to import your weapon. Find out more about import/export of weapons

 

If, as a private individual resident outside Denmark, you are to travel through Denmark with weapons, you must have a firearms pass or a declaration if you are to stay temporarily for up to three months in the country to which you are travelling. If the weapon is to stay abroad for more than three months, you will need an import/export licence to travel through Denmark (transit).

Please note that the legal provisions on transportation of weapons also apply when you travel through or are in transit in Denmark. The rules appear from section 11 of the Executive Order on Weapons which is available in Danish at retsinformation.dk (opens a new tab).

If, as a business, you need to be in transit in Denmark with weapons, we consider such a situation to be import followed by export. Applications for transit are processed by the Weapons Department of the Administrative Centre of the Police (Politiets Administrative Center) or by the Danish National Police (Rigspolitiet) depending on the type of weapon and the country of destination.

 

Transit with ordinary weapons within EU, EEA and Nordic countries

You must apply for an import/export licence from the Weapons Department of the Administrative Centre of the Police if you travel through Denmark to another EU or EEA country or to the Faroe Islands or Greenland with the following types of weapons:

• airsoft and paintball guns
• alarm and signal weapons
• airguns
• weapons designed for hunting, fishing and competition shooting as well as matching components and ammunition
• muzzle loaders manufactured before 1870
• breech loaders manufactured before 1870 which cannot use fixed ammunition.

The licence is valid for six months. Go to the self-service portal

Transit with special weapons and transit to countries other than EU, EEA and Nordic countries
If you travel through Denmark to destinations outside EU, EEA and Nordic countries, and if you have other types of weapons than those mentioned above, explosives or military equipment in transit, you must apply to the Danish National Police for a transit licence. Go to the self-service portal

You must bring your firearms pass when you bring your weapons into and out of Denmark and into and out of other EU countries.
Please note the rules that apply in the country to or through which you are to travel.

For more Q&As see the page on firearms passes.

It is your responsibility to know what documents are required by the authorities in the country to or through which you are to travel. If you cannot find any relevant information online, you must contact the authorities of the country in question.

You can also ask the travel agent through which you ordered the journey. The agent may be able to tell you where to ask.

As a last resort, you can contact the embassy of the relevant country in Denmark.

Unfortunately, the Weapons Department cannot guide you about the rules and regulations of other countries.