Studia Administracyjne

Under Polish law a person applying for a firearms license (the author uses the example of a person applying for a firearms license for hunting purposes) is obliged to attach thereto medical and psychological certificates confirming that an applicant may bear a firearm. These certificates may be challenged on appeal by the competent police authority, only on the grounds of an expunged conviction. Police authority can legally state that such conviction itself implies a defectiveness thereof, despite the lack of any other allegations, evidence or information that the candidate should not keep and bear a firearm. According to the law, an expunged conviction should not have any negative legal consequences, the record of the sentence is deleted from the register of offenders, and such conviction shall be considered void. Based on the current jurisprudence, the author discusses the problems of the current wording of the legal provisions, shows possible abuses, indicates the violation of the institution of expungement and proposes changes to the provisions that could reduce the problems mentioned in the article.