Any person in possession of a firearm is obliged to manage such property and maintain the weapon under such supervision so as to avoid any risk of access to it by an unauthorised person. When the firearm is not in use, it shall be stored in a security cabinet or other similar secure storage area.
In this case, two individuals had applied to the Swedish Police Authority for a permit to store their firearms at their holiday home in lieu of at their registered address. The Supreme Administrative Court found that the supervision requirement does not apply to storage in a security cabinet, and subsequently noted that there is no requirement under firearms legislation according to which weapons are to be stored at a certain address. Consequently, no specific permit is required to store firearms at an address other than the holder’s registered address. The Court further found that the provisions providing the Police Authority the right, under certain circumstances, to combine a permit to possess a weapon with conditions regarding, among other things, storage, do not entail that individuals have the possibility to apply to have such conditions for storage at a certain address. Such an application shall therefore be disallowed. Against this background, the Supreme Administrative Court rejected the Police Authority’s appeal.