At the beginning of 2023, the President of Poland Andrzej Duda, has signed an act amending several acts, including the Firearms and Ammunition Act. The changes came into force gradually, but after a few months they are all in force.
Significant changes that affect civilian gun owners in Poland include:
1. The most important change is the one that limits the period of mandatory membership in a shooting club before one can take the shooting license exam. Previously, this period was as much as 3 months and was determined by the internal regulations of the Polish Sport Shooting Federation. Now the act introduces a limitation, stipulating that the this period cannot be longer than one month, which seems to be an appropriate amount of time to learn the theory and practical skills necessary to pass the patent shooting exam.
2. The second important change that affects a large number of shooters is the abolition of the requirement of periodic medical examinations for persons owning a firearms license for hunting purposes, introduced five years ago. This obligation was introduced in 2018 and it would mean that soon all hunters would rush to the doctors to prolong their medical certificates. It can be assumed that the health care system would have a problem with examining almost 135,000 (data as of December 21, 2022) hunters in a short time. On one hand, periodic examinations are an additional cost and nuisance for a gun owner, on the other hand, it is enough to look at how elderly people behave behind the wheel of a car, so maybe some periodic screening would be a good solution.
3. A new important reason for owning a weapon for personal protection and for the protection of people and property was introduced - "the desire to strengthen the defense potential of the Republic of Poland declared by an officer of the Police [and any other uniformed formations], if he has a service weapon assigned to him, as well as a person performing territorial military service duties for at least two years". Thanks to this, it will be easier for officers and soldiers to obtain a category A firearms permit. How will it work in practice? We'll see, after all, we know very well that the police do not like to issue such permits.
4. The procedure for appealing from the results of the psychological medical examinations has been changed. On one hand, this is a less significant change, because it concerns a negligible percentage of people applying for a firearms permit, on the other hand, it will be a key change for such people. So far, the appellant was sent by the WPA to designated locations (usually a voivodeship labour medical centres). Now the appellant will indicate in his appeal a doctor who is to verify the psychologist's opinion.
5. The amount of the fee for conducting the examination by the police was clarified. So far, this amount ranged from 100 PLN (for teachers teaching Defense Training), through 500 PLN (a permit for personal protection) to as much as 1,150 PLN (other permits). Now the regulations set the maximum fee for the exam in the amount of 20% of the minimum remuneration for work, i.e. PLN 698 in 2023.
6. The last change does not directly affect shooters, but it should have a positive impact on the development of shooting in Poland. A rule has been added stating that the provisions of the Code of Administrative Proceedings apply to the procedure for approving the regulations of the shooting range. It is to prevent blocking the creation of shooting ranges by not approving it's regulations by withholding a decision by authorized bodies. Now, in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Administrative Proceedings, if the authorized bodies does not issue a negative decision within 30 days, the regulations are automatically approved.
The full text of the changes is available in the act published at ISAP.
