The Government of Bangladesh has officially doubled the licensing fees for all categories of firearms, as outlined in the newly issued “Firearms Licensing and Usage Policy 2025.” The updated policy was issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on July 10.
According to the previous 2016 regulation, individuals were required to have paid a minimum income tax of BDT 300,000 to qualify for a pistol or revolver license. Under the new policy, that threshold has now been increased to BDT 500,000.
The fee for obtaining a license for a pistol or revolver has been increased from BDT 30,000 to BDT 60,000, while the fee for guns and shotguns has risen from BDT 20,000 to BDT 40,000. The renewal fee for a pistol or revolver has also been doubled from BDT 10,000 to BDT 20,000, and for guns, shotguns, and rifles, it has increased from BDT 5,000 to BDT 10,000.
For financial institutions or banks, the fee for long-barrel firearms has risen from BDT 20,000 to BDT 50,000, and the renewal fee has gone up from BDT 5,000 to BDT 10,000. The fee for issuing long-barrel licenses has also been increased from BDT 20,000 to BDT 40,000.
For organizations, the fee for long-barrel guns, rifles, and shotguns has been raised from BDT 5,000 to BDT 10,000, while the renewal fee for dealers and repairers has similarly been doubled to BDT 10,000.
Since the current government came to power in 2009, all individual firearm licenses were revoked by August 4, 2024, with directives issued to deposit weapons and ammunition at the respective Deputy Commissioner’s offices. As a result, no new individual firearm licenses have been issued since then.
However, following August 2024, some exceptions have been granted, particularly to the military, senior defense officials, and banks, considering security threats. In those cases, shotgun licenses have been approved under special circumstances.
