How do you give up a weapon and get rid of it?
Verified 31 January 2025 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
The process of abandoning a weapon varies according to your situation: you hold the weapon regularly, it is a found or inherited weapon, the authorization to hold the weapon has ended... We tell you how to divest you of a weapon regardless of your situation.
What applies to you ?
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Voluntary abandonment
You have 5 possibilities to divest yourself of the weapon:
- Sell the gun to a gunsmith
- Sell the firearm to an individual through a licensed dealer or broker
- Hand the weapon over to a gunsmith for destruction (a fee the gunsmith can charge)
- Hand the weapon over to a police station or gendarme brigade for destruction or valorization. You must complete and sign the cerfa form no. 11845.
- Deposit the weapon with a gunsmith designated by the State, for destruction or recovery (attention : experimentation with this method of divestiture is interrupted until further notice).
Found or inherited weapon
You must to divest you of the weapon in a three-month period.
You have 5 possibilities to divest yourself of the weapon:
- Sell the gun to a gunsmith
- Sell the firearm to an individual through a licensed dealer or broker
- Hand the weapon over to a gunsmith for destruction (a fee the gunsmith can charge)
- Hand the weapon over to a police station or gendarme brigade for destruction or valorization. You must complete and sign the cerfa form no. 11845.
- Deposit the weapon with a gunsmith designated by the State, for destruction or recovery (attention : experimentation with this method of divestiture is interrupted until further notice).
When you relinquish the weapon, you must present to the professional a valid identity document. For example, national identity card, passport.
Please note
Failure to comply with the rules on the divestment of a weapon shall be punished by a fine of €750
Prefect's order, authorization expired or canceled...
Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement
You're a hunter
You have a valid hunting license
You must to divest you of the weapon in the time limit fixed by the prefect.
You have 5 possibilities to divest yourself of the weapon:
- Sell the gun to a gunsmith
- Sell the firearm to an individual through a licensed dealer or broker
- Hand the weapon over to a gunsmith for destruction (a fee the gunsmith can charge)
- Hand the weapon over to a police station or gendarme brigade for destruction or valorization. You must complete and sign the cerfa form no. 11845.
- Deposit the weapon with a gunsmith designated by the State, for destruction or recovery (attention : experimentation with this method of divestiture is interrupted until further notice).
Once you've divested the weapon, declare it online via your SIA account.
You're fired as a sports shooter
You have a valid license for sport shooting issued by the French Shooting Federation
If your permission is automatically void or if you did not apply for renewal when its validity ended, you must to divest you of the weapon in a three-month period.
In case of a prefectural order (order of the prefect), you must to divest you of the weapon in the time limit fixed by the prefect.
You have 5 possibilities to divest yourself of the weapon:
- Sell the gun to a gunsmith
- Sell the firearm to an individual through a licensed dealer or broker
- Hand the weapon over to a gunsmith for destruction (a fee the gunsmith can charge)
- Hand the weapon over to a police station or gendarme brigade for destruction or valorization. You must complete and sign the cerfa form no. 11845.
- Deposit the weapon with a gunsmith designated by the State, for destruction or recovery (attention : experimentation with this method of divestiture is interrupted until further notice).
Once you've divested the weapon, declare it online via your SIA account.
You are licensed to practice ball-trap or biathlon
You have a valid ball-trap or ski (biathlon) federation sports license
In case of a prefectural order (order of the prefect), you must to divest you of the weapon in the time limit fixed by the prefect.
You have 5 possibilities to divest yourself of the weapon:
- Sell the gun to a gunsmith
- Sell the firearm to an individual through a licensed dealer or broker
- Hand the weapon over to a gunsmith for destruction (a fee the gunsmith can charge)
- Hand the weapon over to a police station or gendarme brigade for destruction or valorization. You must complete and sign the cerfa form no. 11845.
- Deposit the weapon with a gunsmith designated by the State, for destruction or recovery (attention : experimentation with this method of divestiture is interrupted until further notice).
Once you've divested the weapon, declare it online via your SIA account.
You have a valid collector card
If your collector's card you are withdrawn, or if you have not applied for its renewal when its validity has expired, you must to divest you of the weapon in a three-month period.
In case of a prefectural order (order of the prefect), you must to divest you of the weapon in the time limit fixed by the prefect.
You have 5 possibilities to divest yourself of the weapon:
- Sell the gun to a gunsmith
- Sell the firearm to an individual through a licensed dealer or broker
- Hand the weapon over to a gunsmith for destruction (a fee the gunsmith can charge)
- Hand the weapon over to a police station or gendarme brigade for destruction or valorization. You must complete and sign the cerfa form no. 11845.
- Deposit the weapon with a gunsmith designated by the State, for destruction or recovery (attention : experimentation with this method of divestiture is interrupted until further notice).
Once you've divested the weapon, send your prefecture a proof of divestiture.
The Arms and Explosives Section does not receive users.
By mail
Police prefecture
General Police Directorate
Office of Administrative Police
Arms and Explosives Section
1 bis rue de Lutèce
75195 Paris Cedex 04
By E-mail
From contact form
Arms subject to authorization (category A or B) inherited (Article L312-4)
Divestiture of a weapon subject to authorization (article R312-17)
Arms subject to authorization (category A or B) found or inherited (article R312-51)
Found or inherited Category C weapon (Item R312-55)
Collector's Card and Divestiture of a Weapon
Surrender or divestiture of a weapon on the order of the prefect
Divestiture of a weapon
Customized Account Holder in the Weapons Information System (AIS)
Transfer of ownership of a weapon