In short: Firearms are lawful to own and carry in Guatemala with a DIGECAM licence — and your US permit is not one. The article that would have to recognise it, Art. 70 of Decreto 15-2009, reaches only Guatemalan citizens and foreigners holding a Migración residency resolution; DIGECAM’s own published requirements demand that resolution on paper. Open carry is an infraction — Art. 131 requires licence holders to carry concealed and without ostentation. A tourist route to bring a sporting arm exists on paper in Art. 36, but no implementing procedure is published by the regulation or by DIGECAM. This is general information, not legal advice.
Guatemala is not a no-guns country. It has a detailed, published firearms statute, a registry, a ballistic-fingerprint database, a licensing exam, and a criminal chapter with real sentences. What it does not have is any mechanism that lets an American’s home-state paperwork travel with them.
This page quotes the articles rather than summarising them, because on this subject the exact wording is the answer.
The five questions, answered from the articles
| Question | Article | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| Can a foreigner carry? | Art. 70 | Citizens and foreigners with legally authorised temporary or permanent residence — with DIGECAM authorisation |
| Does my US permit count? | Arts. 70, 72, 74 | No recognition mechanism appears in any of them |
| Can I own a gun as a resident? | Art. 62 | “Todos los ciudadanos tienen el derecho de tenencia de armas de fuego en su lugar de habitación” |
| Open or concealed? | Art. 131 | Concealed and without ostentation — visible carry is a falta, Q1,000-1,500 + 6-month suspension |
| Penalty for unlicensed carry? | Art. 123 | 8 to 10 years, non-commutable, plus confiscation |
Why a US concealed-carry permit has no standing
The strongest way to state this is not “Guatemala doesn’t recognise US permits” — it is to point at the article that would have had to create the recognition, and show that it does not.
Art. 70. Portación. “Con autorización de la DIGECAM, los ciudadanos guatemaltecos y extranjeros con residencia temporal o permanente legalmente autorizada, podrán portar armas de fuego de las permitidas por la presente Ley, salvo las prohibiciones contenidas en este cuerpo legal.”
That is the entire universe of people who may carry: Guatemalan citizens, and foreigners with legally authorised residence. A visitor on a tourist stamp is in neither set.
Art. 74 is the only place in the Law where a person may carry on the strength of a document alone, without the ordinary licence process — and it lists exactly ten categories, all Guatemalan officeholders: the presidents of the branches of State, the Vice-President, deputies to Congress, ministers, the Fiscal General, the Procurador General, the General and Private Secretaries of the Presidency and Vice-Presidency, magistrates and judges, and former presidents, vice-presidents and deputies. No foreign permit, no diplomat clause, no reciprocity provision.
Art. 72, which sets out what a carry-licence application must contain, asks for the applicant’s documento de identificación personal, criminal and police record certificates, and certification of having passed the Art. 75 evaluations. Nothing in it contemplates a foreign licence being submitted in place of any of that.
The regulation is even more concrete. Art. 30(b)(5) of Acuerdo Gubernativo 85-2011 requires, among the documents accompanying a carry-licence application: “Original y fotocopia de la resolución emitida por la Dirección General de Migración de residencia temporal o permanente, en caso de ser extranjeros.”
And DIGECAM publishes the same thing in its own words. Its requirements page for Evaluación y primera licencia de portación de arma de fuego lists “DPI original y copia simple” and, for foreigners, “Original y fotocopia de la resolución emitida por la Dirección General de Migración de residencia temporal o permanente en caso de ser extranjero” (DIGECAM, retrieved 2026-08-11).
Three instruments, one answer. The gate is residency, evidenced by a Migración resolution. A US permit is not an input to that gate at any point.
The tourist route exists in the statute and nowhere else
This is the finding worth carrying away, and it is a documented absence rather than an opinion.
Art. 36. Ingreso temporal de armas de fuego por extranjeros. “Los extranjeros que deseen ingresar temporalmente al país armas de fuego de uso civil y/o deportivo, presentarán su solicitud con la debida anticipación por conducto de la respectiva Misión Consular de Guatemala, o su representante, la que será cursada a la DIGECAM para su autorización. En caso de resolverse favorablemente, la DIGECAM concederá licencia especial y temporal de portación y/o traslado, y lo comunicará al Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores para que ordene a las autoridades consulares la autorización de los documentos de embarque.”
So the statute names a path: consulate → DIGECAM → special temporary licence → MINEX → shipping documents. Then:
- The regulation does not implement it. Searching Acuerdo Gubernativo 85-2011 for “ingreso temporal”, “Misión Consular” and “consular” returns no matches. The regulation builds out possession, carry, import by dealers, sporadic transfer and export in detail — but not this.
- DIGECAM does not publish it. DIGECAM’s Trámites catalogue lists 15 procedures for individuals and legal persons: possession registration, first carry licence, renewal, adding or removing a firearm, theft notice, licence replacement, sporadic transfer licence, possession-card replacement, individual import licence, clearance and transport, deposited-firearms information, inventory listing, and three comodato and certification procedures. None is a temporary entry by a foreigner (checked 2026-08-11).
- The individual import licence is built for residents. Its published requirements ask for the applicant’s DPI, including “fecha y lugar de extensión del DPI”, plus a legalised photocopy of that DPI. There is no foreigner variant on the page.
The honest summary: Art. 36 establishes the route; neither the regulation nor DIGECAM’s published procedure catalogue tells anyone how to walk it. A traveller who wants to use it is dependent on a Guatemalan consular mission for instructions that are not published online. We could not establish that the procedure is unavailable — only that no published procedure for it was found.
Meanwhile the downside is published in full. Art. 99. Importación ilegal de armas. “Comete delito de importación ilegal de armas, quien sin tener licencia o autorización, o sin declarar en la aduana respectiva, ingrese al territorio nacional cualquier tipo de arma de las clasificadas en esta Ley. El responsable de este delito será sancionado con prisión de cinco (5) a ocho (8) años inconmutables y comiso de las armas.” If the weapons are more than two, or of the war classes, the penalty rises to eight to twelve years.
What customs allows, and what it defers
SAT’s published Equipaje de Viajeros guidance reproduces the Central American customs code’s baggage list. Item (k) of RECAUCA Art. 578 reads: “Armas de caza y deportivas, quinientas municiones, una tienda de campaña y demás equipo necesario para acampar, siempre que se demuestre que el viajero es turista. El ingreso de esas armas y municiones estará sujeto a las regulaciones de cada Estado Parte sobre la materia.”
Read the second sentence carefully. The customs code creates room in the baggage exemption; it does not create a permission. It hands the question straight back to the national firearms regulation — which is Decreto 15-2009, which routes it through Art. 36. On top of that, Art. 44 requires transport companies arriving with civil or sporting firearms as cargo to notify DIGECAM and SAT immediately so their delegates take custody.
Our customs guide for travellers covers the ordinary baggage allowances, and prohibited and restricted imports covers the permit-controlled categories.
For residents: what the Law actually permits
| Topic | Rule | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Possession at home | Right of all citizens, subject to the Law’s requirements | Art. 62 |
| Civil-use class | Revolvers, semi-auto pistols any calibre; pump/semi-auto/breech- and muzzle-loading shotguns with barrels up to 24 inches; mechanical or semi-auto rifles | Art. 9 |
| Prohibited to private parties | War firearms reserved to the Army, and automatics | Art. 10 |
| Also prohibited | Silencers; automatic-conversion mechanisms; concealed-firing devices (briefcases, cases, pens, books); war-use or poisoned/incendiary ammunition; homemade firearms; guns without serial numbers | Art. 82 |
| Carry licence | Covers up to 3 firearms; valid 1 to 3 years, renewable | Art. 72 |
| Minimum age | 25; an exception for State security-force members appears in the article, but part of that exception’s wording was struck down by the Corte de Constitucionalidad (2 Dec 2010, Exp. 1608-2009) | Art. 80 |
| Ammunition purchase | 250 rounds/month per firearm on a carry licence; 200 with possession registration only; transfers between private parties prohibited | Art. 60 |
| Buying a firearm | Legalised ID copy, birth certificate, criminal and police record certificates, boleto de ornato, proof of employment or income; DIGECAM has 5 business days | Art. 59 |
| Registration | In person at DIGECAM, with the firearm and 3 rounds for ballistic fingerprinting | Art. 63 (as reformed by Decreto 06-2017) |
| Air guns | Compressed-gas pistols/rifles up to 5.5 mm / .22 — possession without registration, transfer without licence | Arts. 12, 68 |
Each of those has a corresponding DIGECAM procedure with its own fees and timelines, which we cover separately: first carry licence, carry licence renewal, possession registration, adding or removing a firearm, individual import licence, reporting a stolen firearm, replacing a lost or stolen licence and the dealer licence. The full set sits in the MINDEF trámites hub. If your interest is hunting rather than carry, CONAP — a different authority again — issues the sport hunting permit.
Open carry: the Law says the opposite of what many assume
Art. 131. Portación ostentosa de arma de fuego. “Las personas con licencia de portación de arma, deberán portarla encubierta y sin ostentación. Comete falta de portación ostentosa o intimidatoria, la persona que ostente una o más armas y/o sus accesorios, portándolos de manera visible. El responsable de esta falta será sancionado con suspensión de la licencia de portación por seis (6) meses y multa de un mil (Q. 1,000.00) a un mil quinientos Quetzales (Q.1,500.00).”
Repeat offences escalate: a second lets the judge cancel the licence for up to one year, a third suspend it for up to three years. State security forces, the Army and private security firms on duty are excepted. Art. 82(i) carries a related but narrower general prohibition: it bans carrying “a la vista ostentosamente” weapons and/or magazines “para más cartuchos de los que originalmente fueron fabricados para el arma o que sobresalgan de su empuñadura” — that is, extended magazines holding more rounds than the firearm was manufactured for, or protruding from the grip.
Two adjacent infractions are worth knowing: Art. 130 fines a licence holder Q1,000-Q1,500 for carrying without the licence card on them, and Art. 132 fines Q1,500-Q3,000 for carrying on a licence expired within the previous thirty days.
The penalty chapter, in one table
| Conduct | Penalty | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Carrying a civil-use or sporting firearm without a licence | 8-10 years, non-commutable, + confiscation | Art. 123 |
| Carrying a war / State-forces firearm without authorisation | 10-15 years, non-commutable | Art. 125 |
| Carrying a homemade or artisanal firearm | 10-15 years, non-commutable | Art. 124 |
| Illegal import of any weapon classified by the Law | 5-8 years (8-12 if more than two, or war class) | Art. 99 |
| Holding 3 or more unregistered civil/sporting firearms | 5-8 years | Art. 115 |
| Possession or carry of a firearm with an altered or erased serial | 10-12 years | Art. 129 |
| Firing without justified cause | 1-3 years + no carry licence for 3 years | Art. 127 |
Every sentence in that table except Art. 127 is described in the Law as inconmutable — not convertible to a fine. Art. 127 is the exception: it reads “prisión de uno (1) a tres (3) años y comiso del o las armas”, without that word.
What we could not establish
- No published procedure implements Art. 36. Not in Acuerdo Gubernativo 85-2011, not in DIGECAM’s 15-item trámites catalogue. That is an absence of published guidance, not a finding that the route is closed.
- DIGECAM lists a separate “Reformas al Decreto Número 15-2009” instrument in its Marco Legal page, and its linked file returns a 404 on DIGECAM’s site. The Organismo Judicial’s consolidated text names three reforms in the body of the Law itself: Decreto 20-2012 (Arts. 26, 146), Decreto 22-2012 (Arts. 7, 15) and Decreto 06-2017 (Arts. 26, 63, 138). Of the articles quoted on this page only Art. 63 is touched, and it is cited here in its reformed wording. We cannot rule out a further reform that neither source records.
- No US-permit reciprocity provision was found, because no such article exists in the Law — which is a positive finding about the text, not a failure to search.
For the non-firearm side of the same question — pepper spray, tasers and knives — see what the law actually says about self-defense items.
Sources
- Decreto 15-2009, Ley de Armas y Municiones — Congreso de la República de Guatemala. Arts. 9, 10, 12, 36, 44, 59, 60, 62, 63, 68, 70, 72, 74, 80, 82, 99, 115, 123, 124, 125, 127, 129, 130, 131, 132, 144. congreso.gob.gt — retrieved 2026-08-11. Article text cross-checked verbatim against the copy published by the Policía Nacional Civil academy portal, portal.pnc.edu.gt, retrieved 2026-08-11.
- Acuerdo Gubernativo 85-2011, Reglamento de la Ley de Armas y Municiones — Art. 30. Consolidated with the Law by the Organismo Judicial, CENADOJ. ww2.oj.gob.gt — retrieved 2026-08-11.
- Decreto 06-2017, reform of Decreto 15-2009 — Congreso de la República, published by Organismo Judicial. Reforms Arts. 26, 63 and 138. The consolidated text also records Decreto 20-2012 (Arts. 26, 146) and Decreto 22-2012 (Arts. 7, 15). ww2.oj.gob.gt — retrieved 2026-08-11.
- Trámites catalogue (15 published procedures) and Requisitos: Evaluación y primera licencia de portación de arma de fuego and Requisitos: Licencia de importación de armas de fuego y/o munición por persona individual — DIGECAM, Ministerio de la Defensa Nacional. digecam.mil.gt/tramites — retrieved 2026-08-11.
- Marco Legal — DIGECAM, Ministerio de la Defensa Nacional. digecam.mil.gt/marco-legal — retrieved 2026-08-11.
- Equipaje de Viajeros (reproducing CAUCA Art. 113 and RECAUCA Art. 578 lit. k) — Superintendencia de Administración Tributaria (SAT). portal.sat.gob.gt — retrieved 2026-08-11.
- Transporting Firearms and Ammunition — Transportation Security Administration. Unloaded, in a locked hard-sided container, checked baggage only, declared to the airline at the ticket counter; ammunition in carry-on prohibited; small-arms ammunition boxed per 49 CFR 175.10(a)(8). tsa.gov — retrieved 2026-08-11.
General information for travellers and residents, current as of 2026-08-11, reporting published rules from the instruments named above. It is not legal advice, it does not describe how to move a firearm across a border, and it does not tell you what you may carry. Confirm with DIGECAM or a Guatemalan consular mission before acting. En español: Armas de fuego en Guatemala para estadounidenses.
