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Guides / What to do if your firearm licence has expired

What to do if your firearm licence has expired

You still own the firearm, but you may not possess it. Here are your three options.

Checked against the Act on 9 November 2026. This guide explains the law in plain words; it isn't legal advice.

If your licence has expired, possessing that firearm is no longer legal. But you haven’t lost it, and you have options.

Keep it Apply for a new licence

Valid competency first, then SAPS 271. The DFO checks the firearm.

Sell it Sell it through a dealer

A licensed dealer takes it and sells it to a licensed buyer.

Hand it in Hand it in

Surrender it to SAPS on form SAPS 522(a).

What the courts decided

  • 2018, Constitutional Court (SA Hunters case): the rules that a licence ends when it expires (sections 24 and 28) are valid. There’s no automatic grace period.
  • 2022, Constitutional Court (Fidelity case): you still own a firearm whose licence has lapsed. The Act controls possession, not ownership. You may apply for a new licence for it, and SAPS must accept the application.
  1. July 2017 High Court

    Declares the expiry rules unconstitutional.

  2. June 2018 Constitutional Court

    Overturns that. Licences end when they expire.

  3. May 2022 Fidelity judgment

    You still own the firearm and can apply for a new licence.

  4. July 2022 SAPS instruction

    SAPS sets out how to apply for lapsed firearms.

Your three options

1. Apply for a new licence

Following the Fidelity judgment, SAPS issued an instruction in July 2022 that, according to associations and business groups who’ve seen it, works like this:

  1. Make sure your competency certificate is valid. If it has lapsed, renew it on SAPS 517(g) first.
  2. Apply for a new licence on form SAPS 271 at your police station, however long ago the old one lapsed. It’s treated as a new application, not a renewal.
  3. Take the firearm and a copy of the expired licence to the DFO, who checks it and signs a verification certificate.

Reports say SAPS won’t prosecute you for possession while you’re applying. Sources differ on whether you keep the firearm in your own safe while you wait or hand it to SAPS for safekeeping, so ask the DFO at your station first.

2. Sell it through a dealer

A licensed dealer can take the firearm and sell it on your behalf (section 31). The buyer has to hold a licence for it.

3. Hand it in

You can surrender the firearm to SAPS on form SAPS 522(a).

Don’t waitUntil you’ve done one of these, you’re in possession of a firearm without a licence. Act soon, and keep every receipt SAPS gives you.

Amnesties

The government has declared firearm amnesties in the past, most recently from August 2020 to January 2021, which included firearms with expired licences. We found no amnesty after that. Check the news before you rely on one.

Avoid this next timeApply to renew at least 90 days before expiry. Read how renewals work.
Sources
  1. Minister of Safety and Security v SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association [2018] ZACC 14
  2. Minister of Police v Fidelity Security Services [2022] ZACC 16 (judgment PDF)
  3. Sakeliga on the SAPS standing instruction for lapsed licences (2022)
  4. KZN Hunters on the SAPS directive for expired licences
  5. Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000, consolidated (SAFLII)