Título II. DIGECAM

The General Directorate for Control of Arms and Ammunition, hereinafter DIGECAM, is created as a dependency of the Ministry of National Defense. For the fulfillment of its functions, the General Directorate for Control of Arms and Ammunition may create auxiliary offices in each of the departments of the country.

The Director and Deputy Director General of Arms and Ammunition Control -DIGECAM- shall be appointed by the Minister of National Defense.

The functions of the DIGECAM are the following:

a.To register the possession of firearms and issue the corresponding certificate.

b.To authorize, register and issue the respective licenses for the carrying of firearms.

c.To authorize, register and control the manufacture, export, import, storage, removal from storage, transport and transit of firearms and ammunition.

d.To register the arms of the Ministry of the Interior and all its dependencies, as established by this Law.

e.To register the firearms of the institutions and dependencies of the public administration that for reasons of their positions or functions use firearms, with the exception of the Army of Guatemala.

f.To authorize and control the operation of establishments engaged in the commercialization, import and export of firearms and ammunition.

Firearm shooting ranges, gunsmith shops and ammunition reconditioning machines.

h.To register the ballistic fingerprints of all firearms.

i.To register and authorize books and/or electronic data storage of the businesses and sporting entities that sell arms and ammunition.

j.To review, when it deems necessary, during business hours, and at least once every six (6) months, the physical inventory of the firearms and ammunition found in commercial establishments and storage places. For such purpose it may inspect the entire premises occupied by the commercial or depository entity.

k.To inspect the shooting ranges and gunsmith shops and their control books, when it deems necessary.

l.To authorize and supervise the possession and carrying of firearms of private security companies, banking entities and the municipal police, in accordance with this Law and the respective regulation.

m.To administratively organize its operation and hire the personnel it requires for the performance of its powers and functions.

n.To apply the administrative measures contemplated in the law and file the complaints before the competent authority, when it becomes aware of the possible commission of a crime.

o.To conduct the technical and expert examinations of applicants for a firearm carrying license, upon their first license.

p.To keep all statistical information related to the register of arms and ammunition.

q.To collaborate with the Ministry of the Interior to design and plan strategies and measures to eradicate the trafficking and illicit circulation of firearms in the country.

r.To receive, store and safeguard the arms that are deposited either by private individuals or by judicial order.

s.To issue the document evidencing the possession of the arms.

t.To carry out the marking of the arms in accordance with this Law.

u.Any others assigned to it by this Law.

All information received by DIGECAM in relation to firearms and that which it must forward to the National Civil Police, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the National Institute of Forensic Sciences of Guatemala -INACIF-, shall not be of a confidential nature and may be used by these institutions for police and criminal investigation proceedings.

Database.

The DIGECAM shall take the ballistic fingerprint of each weapon for its registration, except muzzle-loading, obsolete, unserviceable or disused weapons; for that purpose, it shall collect and retain the bullets and cartridge cases, or primers, produced by the respective test, to create the digital and physical ballistic fingerprint bank.

The Criminalistics Bureau of the National Civil Police, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the National Institute of Forensic Sciences of Guatemala -INACIF- shall have access to consult the DIGECAM digital ballistic fingerprint databank, solely for investigative purposes, in cases involving firearms.

For weapons that already have a record in DECAM, registration of their ballistic fingerprints shall be requested before the DIGECAM, which shall issue the new possession card. The time limit for completing said registration shall expire on January 31, 2020. Registrations completed during the established time limit shall pay to the DIGECAM the cost of the possession card in effect on that date. The new ballistic fingerprint registration before the DIGECAM shall be carried out provided the requirements established in the Arms and Ammunition Law are met.

Upon expiry of the foregoing time limit, those possession cards issued by DECAM shall automatically lose their validity, except for purposes of completing the ballistic fingerprint registration procedure and issuance of the possession card by the DIGECAM.