Question about moving with firearms and Puerto Rico Arms Act of 2020

Olivia,

I've not personally been through this, but have some mainland friends that have relocated and are currently in the lengthy process.  Everything below is what I understand to be accurate.

Gun laws are a bit stricter here in P.R. than most States on the mainland and getting good information seems to be really hard to do. It is true that there is reciprocity depending on what State your CCW was issued in, but is only partially recognized to fulfill the local requirements.  First, you need a Puerto Rican ID or driver's license to even begin the process.  If your State is a reciprocal one you are able to skip the firearm safety class and go straight to the fingerprinting process, which should lead to your P.R. permit.  If your permit is not recognized you will have to take a firearm safety class that will require a shooting test for accuracy and then are eligible for fingerprinting.  All firearms and serial numbers must be registered into the P.R. database.  There are restrictions on the amount of ammo you can purchase each year as well as a limitation on purchasing only the caliber of the firearms that are registered to you.

Hopefully that's a good place to start.  If you would like to speak with someone directly my friend recommended calling the B. Safe Armeria in Hatillo.  They are family owned and speak English if you need.  You can check their FB page out at:bsafegunshop

Where in P.R. are you locating to and where are you coming from?  Welcome in advance!

Thank you so much for this helpful information and for welcoming us! That's a great place to start.  We are planning to relocate to Palmas del Mar from Chicago. Do you know if we can fly to Puerto Rico with our firearms and ammunition or do we have to ship them from Chicago? We found some information that indicates that we can fly with firearms/ammunition and need to complete the form 'PPR-1062' five days in advance.  Other sources contradict this information. They indicate that we can't fly with them and need to ship them from gun store to gun store. PR gun store will store them for us until we fulfill the local requirements. Thank you again for your help! Have been trying to figure this out for a while now.

Ah, I hear Palmas del Mar is beautiful. Welcome!  It's my understanding that you won't legally be able to possess your firearms without having a Puerto Rican gun license.  You'll have to fulfill those requirements before you can take possession of them.  An airline might let you fly with them, but I honestly have no idea what would be required to legally take possession without your license.  It is my understanding that the best way is to ship to a local shop and have them hold them until you have your local permit.  I'm not sure how long the gun stores will hold them though.  Keep in mind that there is likely a very long wait for fingerprinting.  My friend here came from New Jersey, which isn't reciprocal and was required to take the firearm safety class.  He took that in November of 2020 and the earliest fingerprinting appointment he could get was June of 2021.

Thanks so much for this information - extremely helpful!

Hi, we're going through the same thing. We were told by TSA, airline and both mainland and PR gun store that we could travel with them too, but only for visiting purposes. If we were visiting with a return flight logged then we could travel with the guns. Travel to become a permanent resident did not allow us to travel directly in this fashion. Hope this helps.

Thank you! This is very helpful.

Thank you!  I am going to Culebra for over a month and was wondering if I could bring my firearm with me. Ill check with TSA first and airline. correct?

Consider leaving it behind?

Simple....you can send any firarm through USPS .however it has to be shipped to a licensed dealer in p.r. Notify a dealer here in PR that you will be sending them firearms.once they receive they contact you and register the firearms in the PR system. And naturally charge a fee. I just sent one in Dec. 2020 and the dealer here charged me like $100. The same thing in the states is like $25. Any questions please contact me.

Oh I forgot you do have to have a PR permit.I got mine in 2017 after naria. Then there was 2 types a concealed and a home protection permit.the concealed then was like $1,000 you had to go before a judge and physically bring 3 witness. The home permit was around $500 still crazy. In the states my permit was $25 every 5 years. I would NOT carry here even though you have a peemit from the states. It may wind you up in jail real quick.the police don't even know the current laws and trust me if they find you carrying without a PR license there going to react as though your a criminal. But my process was like 8 months.I finally had to involve the local ombudsman office and literally 1 week later my permit was in the mail.Any questions please reach out.

Contact for all legal questions regarding Puerto Rico gun law contact Licenciado Javier J***
***

He is the probably Top Attorney in regards to all things related to the local Puerto Rico Gun Law.

Moving to PR with your firearms is pretty simple as of December 2022. After 30 years I recently retired in PR. from the mainland in the U.S. Got my PR drivers Lic., took the CCW class, total was $475.00, done in 1 full day. Having done this in the U.S. and having my CCW for over 10 years, I urge you to take the class in PR. I was truly impressed with the full and comprehensive class I received compared with the U.S., it was just how it should be everywhere in my opinion. Anyway, after you that they make your appointment with the Police Headquarters in the city or town your moving to get fingetprinted and turn in all the docs. with a $200.00 stamp you can buy them at any local bank and 15 days later I had my permit. Once you have the permit your good to go. Just register the serial numbers if your firearms. The whole process including my class and all took less than 30 days.

@techdispatch You are fortunate, my wife and I have been waiting nearly 6 months for the Aguadilla PD to approve our Licencias de Armas. We have visited the station twice to check on our applications because we were told to expect 2 months processing time when we had our interviews. There is no explanation as to why it is taking so long. Around the 5 month mark they requested we return to the police station to have our Livescan fingerprints taken a second time because of a supposed "computer problem". Apparently other municipalities are more efficient but we have already submitted our paperwork and tax stamps in Aguadilla so we are trying to be patient.

Oh wow, sorry to read that. Well, give it a few more weeks and swing by again, be nice and with a sincere concern tell them your worried as a law abiding citizen something may be wrong with your application information and offer to help resolve the issue if they could please share with you.

The comment above that stated you needed a PR DL or ID to being the firearms process is old but as far as I know inaccurate. You do need a passport or Birth Certificate but the form here, that lists the requirements, does not ask for a PR ID. I started the process and am taking the required class this weekend ($225 at Executive Gun Shop) and they were knowledgeable but filled out all the paperwork with just my non-PR DL.

https://policia.pr.gov/wp-content/uploa … PR-329.pdf

Hello PRDave...you are correct, i used my passport as an ID not my PR Drivers Lic., Please re-read my coment above, I just stated that I did get my PR Drivers Lic. not that it was a requirement. I suppose someone may interpret it that way but it was just something I did because I have made my permanent home here in PR.

@techdispatch Thank you, i was referring to the post made by bmay777 which said a PR ID or DL was required. Glad to hear your confirmation it was not!

Did you have to get a notary or similar to certify you were 'something' and by something, the online info I found was hard to understand. I.e. was there an extra step involving a notary/lawyer because you used a Passport instead of a PR DL or ID?

Thanks!

Hello PRDave...to answer your question, no...but...over at Punto Rojo Academia de Tiros is the place I took my CCW class, they prepared all my docs as part of the service so all I did after stopping by the bank to get required $200. Collecturia Stamp was hand carry my docs to the appt. that they made for me at Police Headquarts and turn it all in. Punto Rojo Academia, PR-121, Yauco, 00698, Puerto Rico tel. 1-939-306-6456. Highly recomended, great class, with an Medical Doctor as one of there instructors, criminal attorney there as part of the class, laser shooting prior to live ammo firearms shooting and it's not just standing there shooting at a bullseye, these guys got down to real world stuff. Anyway, as I said before a very complete impressive class. I do remember seeing a notary there doing paperwork for the students so it is possible he was notorizing our paperwork. I just cannot confirm or deny that fact. They just did it all for us.

For those coming here, PR drivers license is not required though you will have to get an extra document, certificate of good conduct, basically a PR background check. It can all be done with the same process with the local police station.

@techdispatch Thanks so much for the info.  So once you have the permit, how do you ship your owned firearms from states to PR?  Hope I don;t have to pay $100 per piece.

@techdispatch Thanks for your helpful info.  Say you got all your permits, what is the actual shipping process like?  Can you pack your tools in a container and ship there? Any paper work at the shipping dock? Or have to go by air only as lug gages (multiple trips).

@rc256 Unfortunatly $100. for each of mine was the cost I paid, then another $80. each for pickup which included registration from the local armory here in P.R. ...Perhaps some good news is the armorer here told me that if you have your PR CCW on hand you can  send your handguns with your luggage (contact TSA for procedure) from the mainland to the island. He travels frequently to Florida and has CCW's from Florida as well. But you MUST have a your CCW permit from PR to touch your weapons here otherwise be immediatly taken in by the local police and weapons confiscated. That's all I have my friend.

@rc256 Ih, just saw these other questions. My moving company would not allow any wepons included with my goods, told me it was not permitted. U.S. customs in PR inspects and has to clear the goods before release. So I used an armory to armory process to ship them. Hope this helps.

@rc256 The actual weapons shipping process was simple, no paperwork required, just bring your weapons to the armory or gun shop you intend to used to ship them, have on-hand full name, address and phone number of the armory you are shipping to on island, both armory's take care of all paperwork involved. Pay when you ship then pay at pickup. But remember that without a CCW from PR you cannot pickup your weapons, so have it done before you ship. That's it.

@rc256 As far shipping your goods,household goods, tools, etc not sure I can help much,  my moving company picked it all up at home in the U.S and delivered to my home in P.R. upon arrival. Once the moving company crated my goods and weight and size was confirmed I was required to pre-pay prior to loading on the the transport ship. Next time I saw my goods was here at home, no other charges. It took about 3 to 4 weeks.

@ChristianTownsend That really sucks!! I went to B-Safe gun store in Hatillo and they took care of everything for me and got my license in 2 months. Hope you get your LTC soon.

@techdispatch, that's very helpful.  Thank you my friend.  $100 a piece is a steep cost.  I think I will just wait for my CCW, and bring with me as carry-on luggage. AR-15 is allowed on the island, right?

Hello rc256: Yes, you can aquire ar's here at the gun shops, since I felt no need for mine here I passed it on to my son. I may have read something regarding restrictions in the transportation of this type of weapon into the island but disregarded reading it fully because it did not apply to my situation. Most all armory's here speak fluent english and are always up to date on any changes and restrictions, best call one or two of them and ask.

My best advise is to contact a local PR Armory you may have a relationship with already and ask. Armory's here are normaly up to date on any updated procedures on the island.

@Olivia PR

I had firarms in Puerto Rico until you get your gun license in Puerto Rico you can ship it to Puerto Rican FFL B &B Target for stotage.Onec youi get your gun permit you be able to get them from the FFL to take them home.Ther is lots of talks for repriocity. In blunt terms no agreemnt has come and it does not exist.You will need an certified traing course then wait for the Puerto Rican government to send you the gun permits license.In my case it took more than 2 and half months before I had to gop to thje police station to pick it up. My cost for training, notary, signed all the papers including finger print at the FFL B&B Target was approx 360 dollars.This did m not include the storarge at the FFL ARMORY. It was ther for a year beause I came during the pandemic and I could not get my drivers license since the DMV was limited in services basically close many times.  The armory was great since my Spanish is limited and actually got a guy who speaks English one on one for my class.

@Olivia PR

Number one there is no agree reciprocity by any state with Puerto Rico. Its only a memo of understanding which has not been fulfilled.  You will need a Puerto Rican drivers license, training course at any of the armories here, You will need to go to the police station  and put in your application which includes all the papaerwork. All the paperwork work can be done at an FFL armory at cost.They provide the lawyer, finger printing  and paperwork work including train ing class there is desire. I waited nearly 3 months before getting my gun license. You can ship your arms to any FFL in  Puerto Rico for storrage at a charge until you get your gun license. All the paperwork can be done in an approved FFL armory. In my case B&B Target. Can google it. T    I recommend them. They stored my weapons since I had them shipped from Georgia to Puerto Rico via a FFL in Georgia. I was charged in Georgia approx 130 dolars for 3 pistols in shipping to Puerto Rico..Since my Spanish was limited I asked for a an instructor in English. The armory accomodated me with one guy who was bilingual.The process of notary, finger printing, all the paper work was done there for 360 dollars. The require Puerto Rican training class was seperate and not costly. People are very nice here but they have Spanish law like in Spain and the bureacracy is not great. So patience is a virtue.  One thing I learn you get directions by a pin and not by address. I could not understgand why they send a pin instead of an address.I learned the hard way google maps is not very accurate here and a pin is more accurate. Hope this is helpful from an experience since moving to PR,

Sorry I did not know you got my first message.I nev er scrolled down and I am new here.Thus is a basically a duplicate of my first message.

Also to be clear I did this in early 2023.

@Karma7553 I live in Arizona and will be moving to PR at one point, so can ship my weapons and transfer them to a legal permit holder in PR?

@Karma7553 I am planning to move to PR at one point, but can I transfer my legal weapons to a permit holder in PR? And what the process

@techdispatch I would like to know once you move to PR is there a time frame for getting your license?

@Karma7553

is that $100 per gun?