Gun licence for sport shooting in France

Licence

You must be a member of a club affiliated to the FFTir and hold its licence. The licence needs a medical certificate less than a year old, because shooting is a discipline with particular constraints.CSI L312-4, R312-40; Code du sport L231-2-3, D231-1-5

First authorisation

Three controlled sessions at an FFTir club, at least two months apart, in the twelve months before you apply. They are the condition for the FFTir’s avis préalable (prior opinion), which goes with the application.Arrêté du 28 avril 2020, art. 3; CSI R312-5

Authorisation

A catégorie B gun needs an autorisation (authorisation) from the préfet of your département, applied for through your SIA account. No answer within three months means the application is refused.CSI R312-2, R312-10-1; décret n° 2022-144, art. 8

Term

The authorisation runs for five years. Apply to renew at least three months before it ends.CSI R312-13, R312-14

Keeping it

A renewal needs regular shooting at an FFTir club through the whole authorisation; twelve months in a row without shooting rule out the avis. There has been no carnet de tir (shooting logbook) since 1 July 2020.Arrêté du 28 avril 2020, art. 4; décret n° 2020-486, art. 3 (CSI R312-43, repealed)

Number of guns

Up to 15 sport guns of catégorie B, frames included. During your first five years the limit is six, unless you compete in national or international competitions.CSI R312-40, R312-41-1, R312-42

French law sorts guns into four catégories by how dangerous they are, and the catégorie decides what you need (CSI L311-2, R311-2).

The FFTir’s avis préalable covers catégorie B handguns and long guns and the catégorie A long guns in the first row (arrêté du 28 avril 2020, art. 1).

1. Join a club (association sportive agréée, an approved sports association) affiliated to the Fédération Française de Tir (FFTir) and take out its licence. The licence runs from 1 September to 31 August, is issued only through a club, and needs a medical certificate less than a year old (Code du sport L231-2-3, D231-1-5). The FFTir’s federal fee for 2026/2027 is €69 for an adult and €49 for a young shooter.
2. Shoot three séances contrôlées (controlled sessions) at an FFTir-affiliated club, at least two months apart, in the twelve months before you apply. That club’s president, or someone the president designates, checks the sessions and keeps the list of who took part (arrêté du 28 avril 2020, art. 3).
3. Request the FFTir’s avis favorable (favourable opinion), which the FFTir calls the avis préalable, in your EDEN account (the FFTir’s online member space) under Demandes FFTir. It certifies your assiduity and that you can hold and use a gun safely. The arrêté has the FFTir’s president issue it; the FFTir’s 2020 circular says your club’s president signs it and the regional ligue and the FFTir certify it, in the FFTir’s ITAC system (CSI R312-5; arrêté du 28 avril 2020, art. 1–2).
4. Open your account in the SIA (système d’information sur les armes, the weapons information system) with your ID, your licence and proof of address (CSI R312-91, R312-93).
5. Apply through the SIA to the préfet of your département. The file holds a birth certificate extract less than three months old, your valid licence, the avis, a sworn statement that you have the storage the law requires, and a medical certificate less than a month old. Your licence stands in for that certificate when it was issued on a certificate less than a year old and is stamped by a doctor or comes with that certificate. If you are or have been treated in a psychiatric service or sector of a hospital or clinic, the file also needs a certificate less than a month old from a psychiatrist, which the licence does not replace (CSI L312-6, R312-2, R312-4, R312-5, R312-6).
6. Wait for the decision. The préfet checks your criminal record (bulletin n° 2) and the FINIADA, the national file of people barred from guns. No answer within three months means the application is refused, and the préfet tells your club of the decision (CSI R312-7, R312-10-1, R312-11).
7. Buy from an armurier (gun dealer). The gun goes into the râtelier numérique (digital gun rack) of your SIA account; confirm the purchase there, or it is confirmed automatically after five days (service-public.gouv.fr).

Catégorie B sport guns may be shot only on the ranges of approved clubs, except in international competitions (CSI R312-40). Your valid licence is the legitimate reason to transport them; carrying a catégorie B gun is not allowed (CSI R315-1, R315-2).

Not sure yet? A non-member invited by a club’s president may take part in at most two séances de tir d’initiation (introductory sessions) in twelve months, under a qualified person’s direct control (CSI R312-43-1).

The law asks for pratique régulière du tir (regular shooting) as the condition for the FFTir’s avis (CSI R312-5). The arrêté du 28 avril 2020 sets what that means, for a first application and for a renewal.

What counts is shooting at an FFTir-affiliated club. The figures are about you, not about each gun: the arrêté speaks of the practice of shooting, and no rule sets a number of shots per session.

The rule of three controlled sessions a year is history. Until 30 June 2020, a holder had to show three controlled sessions, two months apart, in every twelve-month period of the authorisation, recorded in a carnet de tir (shooting logbook) that the police could ask to see. Décret n° 2020-486 removed both from 1 July 2020 (CSI R312-40 and R312-43 in their earlier versions). Three sessions are now needed only before a first application.

For a renewal, the FFTir certifies that you shot regularly during the whole previous authorisation; twelve months in a row without shooting rule it out. The FFTir’s own reading is that at least one session a year is still needed.

When the assiduity conditions are no longer met, the FFTir withdraws its avis and tells the préfet, and your authorisation becomes void by law (arrêté du 28 avril 2020, art. 6; CSI R312-15). The FFTir also withdraws its avis, and tells the préfet, after a serious breach of the safety rules (same art. 6). Your authorisation is likewise void three months after your licence’s end date if you do not renew the licence (CSI R312-15).

The proof is the club’s list of controlled sessions and the avis itself. The FFTir advises clubs to keep a record of their members’ visits, such as an attendance book or an entry badge, but leaves the means to each club.

The authorisation runs for five years (CSI R312-13). Apply to renew through your SIA account at least three months before the end date, with the same documents as the first time, including a new avis from the FFTir; you get a receipt (CSI R312-13, R312-14). service-public.gouv.fr warns that a late application may be refused unless you were prevented, for example by a stay in hospital. Three months without an answer again means refusal (CSI R312-10-1).

When you opened your SIA account, every authorisation you held was replaced by one autorisation unique (single authorisation) for all your catégorie A and B guns. It runs to the end date of the most recent of the old ones, and the old ones became void (décret n° 2022-144, art. 8 III).

If you do not apply to renew, you must part with the guns or have them neutralised (made permanently unable to fire) within three months of the end date, or sooner if the préfet sets a shorter time because public order or safety is at risk (CSI R312-17, R312-18).

A sport shooter may hold up to 15 guns under CSI R312-40, since 1 January 2024. Before that the limit was 12, plus up to ten single-shot rimfire handguns outside it, which now count within the 15 (décret n° 2023-557).

For five years from your first authorisation the limit is six. That also applies to a shooter who turns 18 after holding any of the up to three rimfire handguns allowed to minors from 12, and to a former holder who was later put on the FINIADA. It does not apply if you compete in national or international competitions (CSI R312-41-1).

Gun parts do not count towards the limit, except frames and lower receivers, which have counted since 1 September 2023 whenever they were bought (CSI R312-42; décret n° 2023-557, art. 19).

Magazines: at most ten per gun, and only for a gun you hold (CSI R312-45). If you shoot tir sportif de vitesse (speed shooting), you can apply for an exemption for magazines of over 20 rounds for a handgun or over 30 for a long gun, with the FFTir’s certificate that you practise it; they do not count towards the ten (CSI R312-45-1, R312-5).

Ammunition: you may buy 3,000 cartridges per gun in each twelve-month period, and hold at most 1,000 per gun. Components for reloading the calibres you hold are not limited (CSI R312-47, R312-48, R312-49).

Every adult who holds or wants to hold guns and holds, or once held, a shooting licence must have an account in the SIA (CSI R312-91; arrêté du 8 février 2022, art. 1). It keeps your râtelier numérique, the list of your catégorie A, B and C guns, and it is where you apply, renew and confirm purchases (décret n° 2022-144, art. 8 IV).

Holders of a shooting licence could open their account from 27 February 2024 and had to by 31 December 2024. Holders of a ball-trap or biathlon licence, and former licence holders, were added on 6 January 2025 and had a year to open theirs (décret n° 2022-144, art. 8 II; arrêté du 8 février 2022, art. 1).

When you open the account you upload your ID, your licence and proof of address; a later move is reported by updating that proof. A gun missing from your rack, or shown wrongly, must be declared within six months of opening the account (CSI R312-93; décret n° 2022-144, art. 12). Anyone who cannot create the account alone is entitled to help (CSI R312-92).

The account holds a copy of your licence (CSI R312-93), and a licence that is not renewed makes your authorisation void three months after its end date (CSI R312-15). After renewing your licence each season, check that your account shows the new one.

• Catégorie C: your FFTir licence lets you buy, and it stands in for the one-month medical certificate on the same terms as for catégorie B. You buy from a dealer, or from a private person in a dealer’s presence, and the purchase is declared and enters your SIA rack (CSI L312-4-1, R312-5, R312-53, R312-56; service-public.gouv.fr).
• Air guns: see Air rifles below.
• Catégorie A: the semi-automatic centre-fire long guns with large magazines described above are prohibited in general, but a sport shooter can be authorised for them on the FFTir’s avis, with the FFTir’s attestation that the gun meets the specifications of an officially recognised discipline, and within the same limit of 15 (CSI R312-40; arrêté du 28 avril 2020, art. 1).
• Hunting: a permis de chasser (hunting licence) with its validation also lets you buy catégorie C guns (CSI R312-53).
• Collectors: a carte de collectionneur (collector’s card) lets you buy catégorie C guns (CSI R312-53).

Licence-free

Below 2 joules of énergie à la bouche (muzzle energy), an air gun is not a weapon under the arms rules of the Code de la sécurité intérieure. Between 2 and 20 joules it is catégorie D, whose acquisition and holding are libres (free): no licence and no declaration. Its pellets are free for an adult to buy too.CSI R311-1 IV 1°, R311-2 IV h and h bis, R312-62

Age

You must be 18 to buy a catégorie D air gun or its pellets, and to hold one outside the exceptions, among them the one for young shooters below.CSI L312-1; service-public.gouv.fr

Younger shooters

From 9, a young shooter may hold a catégorie D air gun with the authorisation of a parent who is not on the FINIADA, and a valid licence from the federation for shooting (the FFTir), ball-trap or biathlon. The code says plus de neuf ans (over nine); service-public.gouv.fr applies it from 9.CSI R312-52; service-public.gouv.fr

Selling to a minor

Selling or giving a catégorie D air gun to a minor is punishable by up to five years in prison and €75,000. The code allows no sale to a minor: a parent buys, on the minor’s licence.CSI L317-2 3°, R312-1

A minor holding one

Holding a catégorie D air gun as a minor outside the exceptions the code allows is a fourth-class contravention, a fine of up to €750.CSI R312-52, R317-1 2°; Code pénal art. 131-13

Trying it

The rules for introductory sessions, among them a non-member’s limit of two in twelve months, do not apply to introductory sessions with armes à air comprimé (compressed-air guns). The organisers guarantee the sessions’ safety and compliance with the rules that apply to the discipline.CSI R312-43-1 III

Above the limit

From 20 joules an air gun is catégorie C, and buying one follows the catégorie C rules in the section above.CSI R311-2 III 4°, L312-4-1, R312-53

Raising the power

Only an approved armurier (gun dealer) may modify an air gun; anyone else risks a fine of up to €1,500. One that shoots at 20 joules or more is catégorie C, and holding a catégorie C gun without its declaration is punishable by up to two years in prison and €30,000.CSI L313-2, R313-1-1, R317-9, R311-2 III 4°, L317-4-1; Code pénal art. 131-13

Carrying and transport

Outside your home you may neither carry an air gun of catégorie D or C (port: on you and ready to use) nor transport it (moving it with you, not ready to use) without a motif légitime (legitimate reason). The police, or a judge, weigh the reason case by case.CSI R311-1 III 10° and 13°, R315-1 3°; service-public.gouv.fr

Your licence

Your valid FFTir licence counts as a legitimate reason to transport an air gun you use in its sport; the code lists no such title for carrying it.CSI R315-2 3°

Without a reason

Carrying or transporting a catégorie D air gun outside your home without a legitimate reason is a fourth-class contravention, a fine of up to €750; for catégorie C it is up to two years in prison and €30,000, or five years and €75,000 when two or more people do it together.CSI L317-8, L317-9, R317-11; arrêté du 30 août 2013, art. 1; Code pénal art. 131-13

Where you may shoot

The code’s range-only rule is for sport guns of catégories A and B; it sets no rule on where an air rifle or air pistol may be shot. Away from your home, an air gun on you and ready to shoot counts as port (carrying), so you need a legitimate reason.CSI R311-1 III 10°, R312-40, R315-1 3°, R317-11

Local rules

On private land, local rules can apply: the mayor, who is in charge of public order, safety and tranquillity, may regulate shooting by arrêté municipal (municipal order), for example to prevent neighbour nuisance.CGCT L2212-1, L2212-2; QE n° 02705, JO Sénat 26 September 2013, p. 2801

More on air rifles on the Shooter blog →

Catégorie A and B guns, their parts and their ammunition must be kept in a coffre-fort (safe) or an armoire forte (strong cabinet) suited to the type and number of items, or in a strong room with an armoured door and barred openings (CSI R314-3). You must also take every step to stop anyone else using them (CSI R314-2), and you declare on your honour that you have this storage when you apply (CSI R312-4).

Catégorie C guns may also be kept with a part removed and stored apart, or with a device that stops them being taken away, such as a cable through the trigger guard; their ammunition is kept separately, out of free reach (CSI R314-4; service-public.gouv.fr). The code names no standard or grade for the safe.

The age limit is 18, with exceptions for hunting and for shooting under the FFTir (CSI L312-1).

From 12, a young shooter who does not compete internationally can be authorised to hold up to three single-shot rimfire handguns of catégorie B. A minor selected for international competitions comes under the adults’ limit of 15 (CSI R312-40). The file needs the minor’s licence, the FFTir’s avis, and either a parent’s statement that the gun is for sport shooting or proof of the selection (CSI R312-5). service-public.gouv.fr says a minor applies by post to the préfecture; the authorisation runs for five years.

Selling to a minor is forbidden: a parent buys, on the minor’s licence (CSI R312-1). With a parent’s consent and a licence, catégorie C guns may be held from the age of 12 (CSI R312-52; service-public.gouv.fr).

At 18, a shooter who held any of the up to three rimfire handguns allowed from 12 starts under the limit of six guns for five years, unless they compete in national or international competitions (CSI R312-41-1).

Air guns of catégorie D from 9: see Air rifles above.

The préfet refuses an authorisation to anyone on the FINIADA, anyone convicted of an offence listed in CSI L312-3, anyone whose behaviour the préfet’s inquiry finds incompatible with holding guns, and anyone under a legal protection measure or in a state of health manifestly incompatible with it. A person who has been admitted to psychiatric care without consent can still be authorised on a psychiatrist’s certificate (CSI R312-21, R312-6). The FFTir refuses or withdraws the licence of anyone on the FINIADA (Code du sport R131-47).

When the assiduity conditions are no longer met, the FFTir withdraws its avis and tells the préfet, and your authorisation becomes void by law (arrêté du 28 avril 2020, art. 6; CSI R312-15). The FFTir also withdraws its avis, and tells the préfet, after a serious breach of the safety rules (same art. 6). Your authorisation is likewise void three months after your licence’s end date if you do not renew the licence (CSI R312-15).

An authorisation is also void as soon as you no longer meet its conditions (CSI R312-15), and the préfet can withdraw it for reasons of public order or safety (CSI R312-16).

If your authorisation expires without a renewal application, or becomes void, you have three months to part with the guns or have them neutralised (CSI R312-17 I, R312-18). If it is withdrawn or its renewal is refused, the préfet orders you to part with the guns, within three months of being notified of the order unless the préfet sets a shorter time (CSI R312-17 II, L312-11, R312-74). The préfet can shorten any of these three-month periods where public order or safety is at risk (CSI R312-18, R312-74). Where your behaviour or health is a serious danger to you or to others, the préfet can instead order you to hand the guns over, without prior procedure, and they must then be handed to the police or gendarmerie immediately (CSI L312-7, L312-8).

To part with the guns, sell them to a dealer or to someone entitled to hold them, have a dealer destroy them, or hand them to the State. Send the proof to the préfet before the time is up, or the préfet informs the public prosecutor (CSI R312-74, R312-75).

Acquiring or holding a catégorie A or B gun without an authorisation is punishable by up to five years in prison and a €75,000 fine (Code pénal art. 222-52). Carrying or transporting one outside your home without a legitimate reason is punishable by up to seven years and €100,000, even if you hold it lawfully (Code pénal art. 222-54). Acquiring or holding a catégorie C gun without its declaration is punishable by two years and €30,000 (CSI L317-4-1). Going over the limit on guns or on magazines is a fourth-class contravention, a fine of up to €750 (CSI R317-4, R317-5; Code pénal art. 131-13).

The Shooter app keeps every session you log, with its date and the guns used, and exports them as a PDF or CSV report. It has no French defaults: it counts against figures you set yourself.

Before a first application, set the club requirement to 3 occasions (Occasions, any gun) over an activity window of 12 months. The app counts the days you marked yourself as club sessions and shows whether the last 12 months reach 3; it cannot see your club’s list of controlled sessions or check that they are two months apart. Once you hold guns, 1 occasion over 12 months tells you before a twelve-month gap opens. Warnings need Warn me before I drop below switched on.

The app can also count days per gun before a Next activity deadline you enter for each gun. For that, set Shots for an approved session (it is empty outside Sweden, and until it is set nothing is counted per gun) and Sessions per gun; the activity window and both figures apply to all your guns. The French rules count your shooting, not each gun.

Shooter is not affiliated with the préfecture or with any shooting association. The avis préalable is the FFTir’s decision, and the authorisation is the préfet’s.

Do I still need a carnet de tir?

No. Décret n° 2020-486 abolished the carnet de tir from 1 July 2020 (CSI R312-43, repealed). Your club keeps the list of controlled sessions, and the FFTir’s avis is the proof the préfet sees.

How many controlled sessions a year must I shoot?

There is no yearly number once you hold guns. Three controlled sessions, at least two months apart, are needed in the twelve months before a first application. For a renewal, you must have shot regularly through the whole authorisation, with no break of twelve months or more (arrêté du 28 avril 2020, art. 3–4).

What is the avis préalable?

It is the FFTir’s favourable opinion, which the law calls the avis favorable and requires with every application for a catégorie B sport gun. It certifies your assiduity and that you can hold and use a gun safely (CSI R312-5; arrêté du 28 avril 2020, art. 1–2). You request it in your EDEN account; the FFTir’s 2020 circular says your club’s president signs it.

How long is a catégorie B authorisation valid?

Five years. Apply to renew through your SIA account at least three months before it ends; the renewal needs a new avis based on regular shooting (CSI R312-13, R312-14).

How many guns can a sport shooter own in France?

Up to 15 catégorie B sport guns, frames and lower receivers included. For five years from your first authorisation the limit is six, unless you compete in national or international competitions (CSI R312-40, R312-41-1, R312-42).

What happens if my FFTir licence lapses?

Your authorisation becomes void three months after the licence’s end date. You then have three months to part with the guns or have them neutralised, or less if the préfet sets a shorter time (CSI R312-15, R312-17, R312-18).

Do I need a medical certificate?

Yes, every season: the FFTir licence needs a certificate less than a year old, because shooting is a discipline with particular constraints. A licence issued on such a certificate, stamped by a doctor or with the certificate attached, also stands in for the one-month certificate a gun application otherwise needs. If you are or have been treated in a psychiatric service or sector of a hospital or clinic, a psychiatrist’s certificate is needed as well (Code du sport L231-2-3, D231-1-5; CSI L312-6, R312-4, R312-5).

Do I need a licence for an air rifle in France?

Not for one below 20 joules at the muzzle: between 2 and 20 joules an air rifle or air pistol is catégorie D, free for an adult to buy and hold, and below 2 joules it is not a weapon under the arms rules of the Code de la sécurité intérieure. From 20 joules it is catégorie C: buying one needs a shooting, ball-trap or biathlon licence, a hunting licence with its validation or a collector’s card, and the purchase is declared (CSI R311-1, R311-2, L312-4-1, R312-53). A young shooter may hold a catégorie D air gun from 9, with a parent’s authorisation and a licence from the federation for shooting, ball-trap or biathlon (CSI R312-52).

Can a minor own a pistol in France?

From 12, a young shooter can be authorised to hold up to three single-shot rimfire handguns, with a parent’s statement and the FFTir’s avis; a minor selected for international competitions can hold up to 15. A parent does the buying (CSI R312-40, R312-5, R312-1).

Can I try shooting before I join a club?

Yes. With a club president’s invitation, you may take part in at most two introductory sessions in any twelve months, under a qualified person’s direct control (CSI R312-43-1 I). Introductory sessions with compressed-air guns are outside these rules (CSI R312-43-1 III).