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Pézard, Stéphanie and Anne-Kathrin Glatz. 2010 ‘Firearms Legislation.’ Arms in and Around Mauritania: National and Regional Security Implications; Occasional Paper No. 24, pp. 39-40. Geneva: Small Arms Survey, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. 1 June

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Firearms Legislation

Mauritanian firearms legislation is strongly inspired by French law, which was in force in the country until it gained independence in 1960. The French West Africa decree of 19 November 1947 banned the production of industrially manufactured weapons and of 'weapons for exchange' (armes de traite); the general order of 20 April 1957 set an annual import quota for hunting weapons in each territory. After independence, the ban on production1 and the annual import quota2 were adopted into Mauritanian law. Today, all matters relating to firearms and their ammunition in civilian life are governed by Decree No. 60.072 of 1960, which lays down the regulations applicable to firearms and ammunition, and by Law No. 74-177 of 1974, banning the ownership of hunting weapons and their ammunition.

With a few exceptions, the 1960 decree prohibits the import, sale, transportation, stockpiling, and possession of firearms and related ammunition. Nevertheless, the firearms to which the law applies are defined only in very general terms; reference is merely made in Article 6,3 to 'sophisticated rifled-barrel weapons', 'sophisticated smooth-bore weapons', and 'weapons for exchange' (armes de traite).4

Sources cited:

Cisse, Helene N.V., 2005, "Afrique de l'ouest: L'harmonisation des legislations nationales sur les armes legeres: Criteres de convergence appliques au Senegal, au Mali et au Niger (West Africa: The Harmonization of National Legislation on Small Arms Convergence Criteria Applied to Sengal, Mali and Niger)". GRIP report 2005/5. Brussels: Groupe de recherche et d'information sur la paix et la securite.

Islamic Republic of Mauritania, 1960, "Decree No. 60.072 of 20 April 1960 Regulating Firearms and Ammunition in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania".

Islamic Republic of Mauritania, 1974, "Law No. 74-177 of 29 July 1974 Banning the Possession of Hunting Weapons and Related Ammunition.

ID: Q5002

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