Terms and Conditions of Legally Owning a GUN here?

j&t's future

Bronze
Mar 6, 2007
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What are the conditions of owning a gun here?
Temporary/Permanent Residency?
Age 18+?
Nationality?
Criminal Record?

Thanks
 

Cdn_Gringo

Gold
Apr 29, 2014
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For Gringos the process is taking a very long time, by design. Website and Minsterio employees all say 15 working days to get a license but on average it is taking 8 months+ for gringos and 6 months+ for Dominicans to get a new license. Renewals are not taking as long but still it's not a two week time frame like it is supposed to be these days. You will not have a hard time finding armerias outside of the capital that no longer sell to foreigners because of the delays and poor response time from the Minesterio.

You must have a valid residency. You need lots of time before having to renew your residency. If that expires before the license is issued, you will be asked to start the process over. If the process takes more than a year due to a paperwork error or some other delay, that you may not even know about, you will need to start the process over.

You must have a valid cedula and get it certified by JCE.

You must be over 18,
You must have a clean DR criminal record and interpol check.
You need to be evaluated by the local pay me and you're fine physiologist, usually at the same place you take your drug screening test.
You will need to show that you know how to use a firearm by firing one shot from a shotgun and one shot from a pistol at a range. Usually at the same place where you do your drug screening. If buying a gun from an armeria, they will arrange these tests for you, for a fee.
Fill out paperwork, pay taxes and fees at Banreserva.
Pistols require a ballistics check at the lab in SD every year, more money, time and inconvenience. Shotguns licensed forever and no ballistics check.
Completed application and firearm turned into the Mineterio in SD and the waiting begins.

It's not a quick process, so you need lots of time, patience and a real desire to go through all this. Like every other process here it can be stressful and getting information on the status of your application is difficult. Contacts with access to the Ministerio are a big help. VIP service is a money grab and results in no tangible benefits that I have heard of. No one will contact you to tell you there is a problem with a license application and they will not contact you to tell you that your license has been issued and is ready to be picked up at the bank. Locals must have good ESP skills to know when to go collect the license. The website has a status inquiry but it hasn't work in a long time, not sure if it is still broken, probably.

Pistol ownership is insanely expensive here. Due to the import ban, there are very few new pistols available for purchase and even older pistols command a high price. Eg. A Gen3 Glock 9mm with license, and service inducements to get the license quicker for a Dominican totaled close to $6000.00 USD. 6 months ago. Ammo for a pistol is somewhere between 1800 - 3500 $RD for a box of 50.

New Remington/Winchester shotguns are over $2000 USD private sales can be cheaper but you then do not get the assistance from the armeria in filing your license application. Sometimes, this can be a blessing. The armeria just wants your money. After you pay and the application is filed (correctly or incorrectly), you should not be surprised to find that the follow up service by the armeria leaves a lot to be desired, thus the reason that so many no longer sell to foreigners.

http://www.mip.gob.do/index.php/requisitos-armas
 

botemon

Active member
Jun 28, 2008
223
31
28
Wow! I'm glad I got mine when I did about three years ago. It was painful....but not that painful. 3 months and 1K later, I was done. Lifetime licence w/shtgn. Respectfully.....
 

Gringo Starr

*** I love DR1! ***
Aug 11, 2014
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Renewals are not taking as long but still it's not a two week time frame like it is supposed to be these days.

Guys, please don't post bullshlt here!

Renewals are much faster than 2 weeks now, actually it's two days. You pay the renewal fees at Ban Reservas, go to Amadita or Referencia lab for a drug test, they send your test results to MIP the same day, but you wait one more day just in case, then you go to the ballistic lab, they make a ballistic test and print your new license for the next year right in front of you. No need to wait two weeks like before for your license to come back to Ban Reservas branch. Now the whole renewal process is just two or three days and it's very easy..
 

Cdn_Gringo

Gold
Apr 29, 2014
8,671
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First off none of us have enough information to make definitive statements that encompass all people and all circumstances. Strictly focusing on license renewals, of the people that I have spoken to and one Dominican for who I have personally paid for their renewal, the information that I have been told by these individuals is that the majority of them are waiting longer to receive their renewed license than in the past. Most are gringo, but a few are Dominicans.

I know of one person who was able to walk out of the ballistics lab with their renewed license the same day. Others have waited up to two weeks and one Dominican (who I haven't spoken to in the past couple of months) was still waiting having applied Last June - there may be a problem with this application, I just do not know.

Licenses are sent to BanReserva for distribution to the various branches on Thursday afternoon each week. It can take up to a week or a little longer in some cases for the license to be ready for pickup at the Banreserva branch where you paid your fees and taxes. Some who live closer to SD than others may be able to retrieve the license sooner than those who live further away.

I cannot speak to every renewal or every case, but in general, renewals for the vast majority of foreigners and many Dominicans have been intentionally slowed down by a directive directly from Min. Fadul for political reasons.

Sr. Starr, just because your personal experience differs from that of others, doesn't automatically mean that anything else is BS. There are a lot of factors at play within the ministerio, not the least of which is how many holidays fall during the in which someone is trying to renew, staffing levels, the number of concurrent applications to process and of course the constant state of flux for the policies of the day.
 

Gringo Starr

*** I love DR1! ***
Aug 11, 2014
544
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CDN-Gringo, Once again, if your drug test results are ready and in the system, you walk out from the ballistic lab with the new license. So maybe Dominicans you spoke to are idiots, as usual, so they did not have their tests ready, or something like this... or went to the shltty lab that did not send their results to MIP immediately... or renewed after the expiration date.. but we are not talking about the idiots, we are talking about the procedure in general. And the rules are: if you come to the ballistic lab with the receipts paid at Ban Reservas and your drug test results are already in the system (that takes 24 hours), you are eligible for your new license printed right there in front of you. Period.

And, just one question.. Do you own a gun in DR? If not, I don't know what you are doing in this threads posting information that "some Dominicans says".
 

Gringo Starr

*** I love DR1! ***
Aug 11, 2014
544
0
0
I cannot speak to every renewal or every case, but in general, renewals for the vast majority of foreigners and many Dominicans have been intentionally slowed down by a directive directly from Min. Fadul for political reasons.

Excuse me, sir, but this is another bullshlt. During all November and December there was an announcement on MIP website signed by Fadul, that persons who have not renewed their licenses for the past two years are welcome to renew them now, and they only have to pay for renewals and no fines, and they will get their new licenses in the same ballistic lab in 3 days. And by the way, MIP is doing it every year, because they want that money for the renewals.

And there is absolutely no reason for MIP to slow down the renewal process, because if they slow it down, people just don't renew and they still own and carry their guns, and MIP just don't receive their money, so what's the point?

They may slow down new applications (and if you bribe the right person, everything will be very fast, trust me), but they try to make the renewals as fast as possible, that's why now you can get your license right at the ballistic lab, to avoid the headache with its delivery to BanReservas that always was a mess. A few years ago my license was lost in BanReservas but MIP had nothing to do with it. They just tracked it, the bank confirmed that it was lost, and MIP printed the duplicate right in front of me.
 

zoomzx11

Gold
Jan 21, 2006
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its a long, expensive pain in the ass process that gets worse and more expensive every year. Better off with a shotgun permit. Anyone know how short a shotgun is legal in the DR?
 

MikeFisher

The Fisherman/Weather Mod
Feb 28, 2006
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Punta Cana/DR
www.mikefisher.fun
its a long, expensive pain in the ass process that gets worse and more expensive every year. Better off with a shotgun permit. Anyone know how short a shotgun is legal in the DR?

are you allowed to "Carry" a shotgun?
i guess there's a reason why some have shotguns(the typical in the house firearms which can also be fired by the wife and daughter in an emergency) and others have handguns on carry permits.

Mike