Flying Abroad with a Firearm Licence? What to Check Before You Travel

A WhatsApp message has recently been circulating that warns Firearm Licence holders about a “new regulation”. It claims that if you travel abroad, you must deposit your pistol with a firearms dealer, and that border control or security screening at Ben Gurion Airport will ask to see a deposit confirmation. If you did not deposit it, the message says, you will be sent home and unable to fly.

Before this message continues from group to group, it is worth setting the record straight: it is simply not true.

There is no instruction stating that every trip abroad requires a firearm to be deposited, and the official publications of the Israel Airports Authority and the Firearm Licensing Division do not describe a process in which a passenger must present “firearm deposit confirmation” at border control as a condition of leaving Israel. I also found no official guidance requiring Ben Gurion Airport security personnel to check whether every passenger is a Firearm Licence holder and where their pistol is located.

What Does the Guidance Actually Say?

A different instruction does exist, and this is probably the source of the confusion. Under the Firearm Licensing Division's current storage guidance, when the licence holder is away from home for more than 48 hours and no adult member of the household is present during that period, the firearm must be deposited for safekeeping with an authorised dealer. If an adult household member remains at home, the pistol may be left there when stored in a compliant safe in accordance with the guidance. The instruction concerns safe firearm storage during an extended absence, not the fact that you boarded an aircraft.

Check secure storage arrangements before travelling. Illustrative image.

What About Arriving at Ben Gurion Airport?

There is another important and entirely separate rule: entering the Ben Gurion Airport terminal with a privately owned firearm is prohibited. Anyone travelling to the airport while carrying a pistol must deposit it with an authorised dealer before arriving, or leave it at home. You cannot arrive with the pistol and ask to deposit it at the airport.

However, if you leave home for a flight and the pistol lawfully remains in the safe — for example because an adult household member remains there or because the absence from home lasts less than 48 hours — there is no general obligation to deposit it simply because you flew abroad. If you are travelling for ten days and the home will be completely without adult household members, then under the current guidance it must be deposited with an authorised dealer. The distinction is not between “in Israel” and “abroad”, but between permitted storage at home and an extended absence without an adult member of the household present.

What About Stories Circulating Online?

As for stories such as “my friend flew and security asked him”: he may have been asked a question during screening, he may have mentioned that he holds a Firearm Licence, or the conversation may have developed for another reason. That does not create a regulation, and certainly not a procedure under which border control checks deposit confirmations and prevents someone who cannot present one from leaving the country.

The Bottom Line

Before forwarding chain messages that begin with “new regulation — send this to every firearm owner”, check whether such a regulation actually exists. In this case, it does not.

The information in this article is provided as a general explanation and does not replace checking current official guidance or obtaining individual legal advice.