Breach of the rules on keeping, transporting and carrying a signal weapon (Art. 182⁴)

I hold the signal weapon lawfully. Can Article 182⁴ still apply to me?

Yes. The article is not about whether you are entitled to the weapon; it is about whether the rules on keeping, transporting, dispatching or carrying it were observed. Under part 1 the sanction is a fine of GEL 500 with confiscation of the weapon, and a lawful entitlement does not remove that.

Will the weapon be taken as well as the fine?

Both parts of Article 182⁴ provide for the fine together with confiscation of the weapon. Paying the fine does not by itself return the weapon. That is why a position on the case should be formed before payment rather than after it.

Is a warning available instead of a fine?

Article 182⁴ does not name a warning. For part 1 it states a fine of GEL 500 with confiscation, and for part 2 a fine of GEL 2,000 with confiscation. Nor does it give a range within which the amount could be reduced — both figures are fixed.

What does the 500-metre radius apply to?

In the text of the article that condition attaches only to the carrying form: breach of the rules on carrying a signal weapon is covered where it occurs in a populated area and/or in the adjoining territory within a 500-metre radius. The keeping, transport and dispatch forms carry no such geographic condition.

How long before a prior penalty stops counting as a repeat?

Part 2 of Article 182⁴ names no period. It requires only that the person already be subject to an administrative penalty for an offence under part 1 of the same article. Where it applies, the fine is GEL 2,000 with confiscation of the weapon.

5 min·22 Aug 2026

What Article 182⁴ actually covers

Article 182⁴ of the Georgian Code of Administrative Offences deals with signal weapons and the cartridges intended for them. It does not ask whether you hold the weapon lawfully. It asks a narrower question: were the rules on keeping, transporting, dispatching and carrying that weapon observed at the moment in question. That is why people whose paperwork is entirely in order still find a protocol drawn up against them — the argument is about where the weapon was and how it was held, not about whether it should exist at all.

The article has two parts. Part 1 describes the offence itself. Part 2 addresses the situation where the person has already been made subject to an administrative penalty for an offence under that same part 1. Both parts carry the same additional consequence — confiscation of the weapon — so the money is never the only thing at stake in the case.

The wording in force comes from Law of Georgia No. 452 of 4 April 2025. The article does not itself define what counts as a signal weapon, nor does it set out the keeping, transport, dispatch and carrying rules it refers to — it states only that breaching those rules attracts the penalty.

The two forms the offence can take

Part 1 bundles two distinct behaviours together, and the difference between them is decisive in practice, because one carries a geographic condition and the other does not:

breach of the rules on keeping, transporting or dispatching a signal weapon and/or the cartridges intended for it — the article attaches no location condition to this form;
breach of the rules on carrying a signal weapon — but only where this occurs in a populated area and/or in the territory adjoining it within a radius of 500 metres.

If the carrying form has been applied to you, the location is a question of fact rather than a formality: a 500-metre radius is a measurable distance, and it either was or was not exceeded. If instead the keeping or transport form has been applied, location stops being the criterion altogether, and the argument moves to which rule was said to be broken and what evidence establishes it.

Updated: 7 Nov 2026

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Losing a civilian firearm and failing to notify the police (Art. 180¹)Carrying a bladed weapon in a public place (Art. 181¹)Bringing in or carrying an acoustic (blank-firing) weapon without a permit (Art. 181³)Breach of the rules on carrying flintlock, matchlock and percussion-cap firearms (Art. 181⁴)Firing a weapon in a populated area or a place not designated for it (Art. 167)Unlawful keeping and transport of a firearm (Art. 181)Selling a cold weapon to a minor and failure to display the prohibition notice (Art. 181²)Breach of the rules on carrying gas aerosol and electroshock devices (Art. 181⁷)Breach of the time limit for registering and re-registering a civilian weapon (Art. 182)Acquiring, keeping or carrying a signal weapon without a permit (Art. 182³)Illegal circulation of an air weapon and firing it in a populated area (Art. 182¹)Operating a shooting gallery, shooting range or clay-shooting stand without a permit (Art. 182²)Acoustic, gas and electroshock weapons without a licence (Art. 182⁶)