Help
Questions people actually ask
41 of them, answered plainly. Where an answer rests on the statute it says which section, and links to the text.
What this page is
A plain-English summary of how the process generally works. It is not legal advice, it is not issued by SAPS, and practice differs between stations. Where an answer says to ask someone, that is the answer.
Using Sentry
What this app does, and what it deliberately does not.
Where does the status in Sentry come from?
From the SAPS firearm status enquiry page — the same public page you can query yourself on saps.gov.za. Sentry looks up every reference you track, on a schedule, and keeps what comes back.
That page is the whole of our access. Sentry has no connection to the Central Firearms Register beyond it, and no account, login or channel that you do not have.
Is Sentry part of SAPS?
No. Sentry is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the South African Police Service. It is a tracker built on top of a public page.
It cannot change the status of anything, it cannot hurry anything along, and nothing in it is legal advice.
Why is my status dated a few days ago?
Because the SAPS page is a periodic snapshot rather than a live feed — its own contents lag the register behind it.
Sentry shows two dates so you can tell the difference between our lag and theirs:
- Last checked — when Sentry last asked SAPS.
- SAPS data as at — the date SAPS itself published for that data.
I added my reference and nothing comes back.
That is common, and usually not a problem with the application. In rough order of likelihood:
- It has not been captured yet. A newly lodged application can take weeks to appear on the public page.
- The reference is mistyped. Check every character against your receipt or acknowledgement of receipt — a transposed digit returns nothing rather than an error.
- It is the wrong number. A licence number is not an application reference.
Which number do I enter — reference, licence or serial?
The application reference number, from the paperwork you were handed when you lodged. That is the only field SAPS treats as required.
For a firearm licence application or renewal you may add the firearm’s serial number as well, which narrows the result when one reference covers several firearms. For a competency application the reference number is the only thing the page accepts — a serial number will not help and may be why you see nothing.
Does Sentry submit or renew anything for me?
No. Every application, renewal, fingerprint and payment happens in person with the Designated Firearms Officer at the station serving your address.
Sentry watches what you have already lodged, and counts down what is coming.
Will I be told when something changes?
Yes. When a tracked reference changes status, Sentry records the change and notifies you, and the application keeps its history so you can see when it last actually moved.
Renewal reminders are also scheduled on the device itself, so they still arrive if push notifications are unavailable or switched off at the OS level.
Sentry says one thing, the DFO says another. Who is right?
The DFO. The page Sentry reads is a periodic copy, and it is sometimes incomplete as well as late.
Treat Sentry as the thing that tells you when to go and ask. When a decision turns on it — a deadline, a collection, a refusal — confirm it at the station where you lodged.
What does Sentry store about me?
The references you add and the results SAPS returns for them, the licence and firearm details you enter, and anything you put in the document vault.
Vault documents are never served from a public path: reaching one takes a short-lived signed link that re-checks server-side that the document is yours. Traffic to our API is certificate-pinned. Sentry holds no SAPS credentials, because the status page does not use any.
The 90-day deadline
The one date the whole app is built around.
What is the 90-day rule?
A renewal application must be lodged at least 90 days before the licence expires.
It is not a grace period at the end — it is a cut-off before the end. Lodge on day 89 and you are late, even though the licence itself is still valid for another three months. This catches people every year, and it is the single reason this app exists.
Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 — s24
Why does the countdown not run to my expiry date?
Because the expiry date is not the date you have to act on. Sentry counts down to the renewal deadline — expiry less 90 days — and keeps the expiry date beside it for reference.
The deadline is the date that can actually be missed. Showing the later one as the headline would be flattering and wrong.
What counts as "lodged"?
Handing the complete application to the DFO and walking out with proof of it: the payment receipt and the signed acknowledgement of receipt bearing your reference number.
Keep both, on paper. That is what shows you were inside the 90 days if it is ever questioned. A date typed into an app — this one included — is a reminder, not evidence.
Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 — s24
I lodged after the deadline. What does that mean?
Sentry marks the renewal as lodged late and keeps it visible, rather than quietly turning the licence green.
Whether a late renewal is accepted, and on what terms, is for SAPS to decide. Ask the DFO where you lodged, and if the answer matters — and it usually does — ask an attorney who works in firearms law.
Can I start earlier than 90 days out?
Yes, and you should. Ninety days is the floor, not the target.
Training certificates, safe photographs, certified copies and a DFO appointment all take time, and any one of them can push you past the cut-off. Around four months ahead is the common advice. Sentry starts reminding you well before the deadline for the same reason.
Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 — s24
Does the 90-day deadline apply to competency as well?
Competency is a separate application with its own dates, so it does not inherit the licence’s deadline.
In practice it is the thing to start first, because a licence renewal is lodged against a valid competency. If competency is the piece that lapses, it blocks everything behind it.
Renewals
What the visit to the DFO actually involves.
How do I renew a licence?
In person, at the station serving your residential address. Broadly:
- Redo the accredited training if your proficiency or competency needs it, and collect the certificate.
- Book with the Designated Firearms Officer — do not assume a walk-in will be seen.
- Complete the renewal form and hand over the supporting documents.
- Have your fingerprints taken and pay the prescribed fee.
- Leave with the receipt, the signed acknowledgement of receipt and your reference number — then add that reference to Sentry.
Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 — s24
Which form is a renewal?
A renewal of a firearm licence goes on the SAPS 518(a); a competency application, including a renewal of competency, goes on the SAPS 517. A new licence application is a different form again — the SAPS 271.
The distinction matters more than it looks: a renewal and a new application are two different processes with two different tests, and the forms are revised from time to time. Let the DFO hand you the current version rather than printing one from a search result.
Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 — s24
What do I take with me?
Stations vary, and some ask for more. A pack that covers most of them:
- Your identity document, plus certified copies.
- The original licence being renewed.
- Your competency certificate, and the training or proficiency certificate behind it.
- Recent passport photographs — several, and not older than three months.
- Proof of residential address.
- Photographs of your safe, and its details.
- The firearm itself, if the DFO wants to verify make, calibre and serial number.
What does it cost?
There is a prescribed fee per item — one for the licence, another for a competency application — so renewing several firearms is several fees.
The amounts are set by regulation and have changed, and many stations take cash or a bank-guaranteed cheque only. Sentry does not quote a figure, because a stale number in an app is worse than no number: confirm the current fee and the accepted payment method with your DFO before you go.
Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 — s145
How long does a renewal take to come back?
SAPS works to a service standard measured in working days for licence applications, but real turnaround varies widely by station and has run well beyond it.
That gap is the reason the deadline sits 90 days before expiry rather than after it. Lodge, keep the proof, and track the reference instead of waiting on a phone call.
Competency
The certificate everything else is built on.
What is the difference between proficiency and competency?
Proficiency is issued by an accredited training provider once you have passed the unit standards — the legal knowledge test, plus a module for each type of firearm you want to be assessed on.
Competency is a certificate issued by SAPS on the strength of that proficiency, after the background and character checks. You need the training certificate to apply for competency, and competency to apply for a licence. Three steps, in that order, and each is its own wait.
Does a competency certificate expire?
A competency certificate carries a validity period — five years is the usual one — and where you hold licences in that class it is generally treated as running on until the last licence in the class expires.
This is one of the most misread parts of the Act, and stations do not always apply it the same way. Read the dates on your own certificate, ask the DFO how they read it, and do not plan a licence renewal around a competency you have not confirmed is still good.
Do I renew competency separately from the licence?
Yes — separate application, separate form, separate fee, even when both are lodged in the same visit and come back with different reference numbers.
Sentry treats a competency as its own tracked item for that reason. It moves on its own timetable and can be refused on its own.
Can I renew a licence if my competency has lapsed?
You are expected to hold a valid competency at the time you lodge. If competency has lapsed, that is the first thing to fix, and it takes its own months.
This is the trap behind most missed renewals: the owner counts back 90 days from the licence expiry, then discovers the competency behind it needed starting much earlier.
Does my police, military or security training count?
Generally no. Training done for a state or employer role is assessed against different unit standards from the ones a personal competency requires.
Expect to do the accredited civilian training, and confirm with the training provider before paying for anything.
Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 — s9
Expired licences
The hardest part of the Act, and the least settled.
My licence has expired. What do I do?
Stop using and carrying the firearm, and get proper advice quickly — from the DFO, and from an attorney who does firearms work.
Because an expired licence generally cannot be renewed, the route back is usually a new licence application rather than a renewal. This area has been through several court decisions and SAPS directives and remains genuinely unsettled, which is why this answer points you at a person instead of a form.
Is that a renewal or a new application?
A new application. A renewal presupposes a live licence to renew; once the licence has expired there is nothing for the renewal form to attach to.
Two consequences follow. You will need a valid competency in hand at the time you lodge — so if competency lapsed with the licence, that comes first. And a new application is judged on its motivation, from scratch, as though you had never held the firearm. Write it as carefully as a first application, because it is one.
Can I keep the firearm while I sort it out?
The position has moved more than once, and anyone who tells you it is simple is guessing.
Litigation has at points allowed holders of expired licences to lodge a fresh application without that step alone exposing them to prosecution, and has at points restrained SAPS from taking in firearms on the ground of expiry alone. Even where possession is tolerated while an application is pending, using or carrying the firearm is not — it stays in the safe.
Get current advice on your own facts. Do not rely on this paragraph, and do not rely on a WhatsApp group.
Is there an amnesty?
Not as a standing thing. Government has declared firearm amnesty periods before, each on specific dates and specific terms set out by notice.
If your plan depends on an amnesty, verify that one is actually open right now, and what it covers, through the Government Gazette or the DFO — not through a date someone remembers.
Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 — s139
What about an old green licence?
A green licence is one issued under the Arms and Ammunition Act 75 of 1969, before the Firearms Control Act commenced on 1 July 2004. The transitional provisions did not leave those licences in place indefinitely: Schedule 1 item 1 kept an existing licence valid for five years from commencement, and item 11 required the holder to apply for the corresponding licence under the new Act within periods the Minister set by notice — phased by surname and by month of birth.
Many holders never made that transition, and the position has been in litigation ever since. In June 2009 the North Gauteng High Court granted SA Hunters an interim order under which licences issued under the previous Act were treated as remaining valid pending the outcome of the main application in that case. That main application was never finalised.
The Constitutional Court judgment people usually reach for is a different case. In 2018 it upheld sections 24 and 28 — a licence lapsing, and what follows from holding one that has — but that case was about licences issued under the Firearms Control Act, not the transitional green ones.
The Minister has since moved to have the 2009 order set aside. Whether it still stands is the whole question for a green licence holder, and it is not one this app will answer: being wrong about it is the difference between lawful possession and a criminal charge. Take the licence to the DFO, and get advice from an attorney who does firearms work.
The cases
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South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association v Minister of Safety and Security
North Gauteng High Court, 26 June 2009
Interim order: licences issued under the previous Act treated as remaining valid pending the main application in that case, which was never finalised.
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Minister of Safety and Security v South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association [2018] ZACC 14
Constitutional Court, 7 June 2018
Refused to confirm the High Court declaration that sections 24 and 28 are unconstitutional; both stand. Concerned licences issued under the Firearms Control Act, not green licences.
Position last checked 10 September 2026. It can change without this page changing.
Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 — Schedule 1 item 1 , Schedule 1 item 11
Can I sell or transfer a firearm whose licence expired?
In the ordinary course a transfer is processed while the licence is still valid.
Once it has expired, dealers and the register typically cannot take the transfer on until the licensing position is resolved — so an expired licence tends to freeze the firearm in place as well as out of use. Resolve the licence first.
Waiting on an application
What the statuses mean, and when to start asking.
How long does SAPS take?
Longer than the service standard, often, and it varies a great deal by station.
A first-time owner is effectively in two queues back to back — competency, then the licence — so plan on months for each and the better part of a year for the pair. Anything you can do in advance, do in advance.
What do the status descriptions mean?
Sentry shows the SAPS wording exactly as SAPS wrote it, and adds a plain-English explanation and a stage on the timeline where it recognises the status.
Where it does not recognise one, it shows the raw wording rather than inventing a friendlier meaning — an unhelpful truth beats a comforting guess. If you hit wording Sentry cannot explain, the DFO can tell you what it means at that station.
Nothing has changed in months. Is it stuck?
Not necessarily. A status can legitimately sit unchanged for a long time, particularly while an application is with the Central Firearms Register.
Sentry keeps the history, so you can see when it last genuinely moved rather than when you last looked. Once it has been longer than the service standard, start with the DFO at the station where you lodged, then the SAPS National Firearms Call Centre.
Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 — s125
My application was refused. Is that the end of it?
No. The Act provides for an appeal to the Appeal Board, and the notice you receive should set out the period you have and how to lodge it.
The window is short and the appeal is a written argument on the merits, so get advice immediately rather than after you have drafted something. Sentry keeps the refused result and its date visible so you know when the clock started running.
Can I track a competency application here too?
Yes. Add it as a competency and enter only the reference number.
The SAPS page will not match a competency on a serial number, so leaving that field empty is correct rather than incomplete.
Licence types and validity
Which section you hold, and how long it runs.
What do sections 13, 15 and 16 mean?
They are the purpose your licence was granted for, and they set its term:
- Section 13 — a firearm for self-defence. Valid five years.
- Section 15 — occasional sport shooting or hunting. Valid ten years.
- Section 16 — dedicated sport shooting or dedicated hunting, held on the strength of dedicated status from an accredited association. Valid ten years.
My licence is not a 13, 15 or 16.
The Act has further categories — professional hunting, private and public collections, business purposes, and others — and their terms differ, ranging from a couple of years to ten.
Take the term from the licence itself rather than from a general rule. Sentry counts down from the dates you enter, so as long as those match the certificate the deadline is right regardless of section.
Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 — s14 , s16A , s17 , s20 , s27
How do I tell which section my licence is?
It is printed on the licence, together with the validity period. Licences issued since 2004 carry the from and to dates on the front, in the form 2020-03-06 – 2030-03-05.
Enter the section against the licence in Sentry and the countdown will use the right wording for it.
Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 — s27
Do all my licences renew at the same time?
Almost never. Each licence carries its own dates, and competency carries its own again.
A safe with five firearms can easily be five separate deadlines spread across years, which is precisely the thing people lose track of — and what the Licences list is for.
I have moved. Does that affect my licences?
Yes. You are required to notify the Registrar of a change of address, and your records sit with the station serving where you live.
Do it through the DFO, and do it before a renewal comes due: a renewal lodged at the wrong station, or against an address that no longer matches, is a delay you cannot afford inside 90 days.
Nothing here matches that. Try a shorter search — “renew”, “expired”, “competency”, or a section number. If the question is about your own application, the DFO at the station where you lodged is the place to ask.
Still stuck
Where the real answer lives
Anything that turns on your own application is not answerable from here, and we would rather send you to someone who can answer it than guess.
Your Designated Firearms Officer
At the station serving your address, and the station where you lodged. The authoritative answer on your own application lives there.
SAPS National Firearms Call Centre
012 353 6111 — for an application that has run past the service standard and the station cannot account for it.
An attorney who does firearms work
For an expired licence, a refusal, an appeal, or anything where being wrong is a criminal matter rather than an inconvenience.