The Arms Licence Tightening: A 90 Percent Fall in New Issuance, an Unexecuted Order on Existing Holders, and the Categories It Skips

Overview

On 1 September 2026 the Minister of State for Interior told the Senate Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control that 5,700 non-prohibited bore arms licences had been issued in the preceding 13 months, against more than 100,000 a year under earlier governments. He credited the fall to two new conditions: a mandatory police character certificate, and a recommendation from a sitting member of parliament, capped at five per National Assembly constituency each month.

This commentary reads that briefing against the same committee's own January 2026 session, which had directed that licences held by non-tax-filers be reviewed and cancelled if their holders did not regularise. The September briefing, presented as the ministry's account of progress, did not report on that directive. The commentary argues that the reform is so far measurable only at the point of entry, and that the categories tied to public office, which some officeholders have repeatedly sought to widen, are the ones the tightening does not reach.