diff --git a/c/_cffi_backend.c b/c/_cffi_backend.c
index 34d14660..172aaefd 100644
--- a/c/_cffi_backend.c
+++ b/c/_cffi_backend.c
@@ -6065,6 +6065,17 @@ static PyObject *b_gcp(PyObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
                                      &CData_Type, &origobj, &destructor))
         return NULL;
 
+    if (destructor == Py_None) {
+	if (!PyObject_TypeCheck(origobj, &CDataGCP_Type)) {
+	    PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError,
+			    "Can remove destructor only on a object "
+			    "previously returned by ffi.gc()");
+	    return NULL;
+	}
+	Py_CLEAR(((CDataObject_gcp *)origobj)->destructor);
+	Py_RETURN_NONE;
+    }
+
     cd = allocate_gcp_object(origobj, origobj->c_type, destructor);
     return (PyObject *)cd;
 }
diff --git a/cffi/backend_ctypes.py b/cffi/backend_ctypes.py
index f09b194c..507a0aca 100644
--- a/cffi/backend_ctypes.py
+++ b/cffi/backend_ctypes.py
@@ -995,13 +995,23 @@ def callback(self, BType, source, error, onerror):
 
     def gcp(self, cdata, destructor):
         BType = self.typeof(cdata)
+
+        if destructor is None:
+            if not (hasattr(BType, '_gcp_type') and
+                    BType._gcp_type is BType):
+                raise TypeError("Can remove destructor only on a object "
+                                "previously returned by ffi.gc()")
+            cdata._destructor = None
+            return None
+
         try:
             gcp_type = BType._gcp_type
         except AttributeError:
             class CTypesDataGcp(BType):
                 __slots__ = ['_orig', '_destructor']
                 def __del__(self):
-                    self._destructor(self._orig)
+                    if self._destructor is not None:
+                        self._destructor(self._orig)
             gcp_type = BType._gcp_type = CTypesDataGcp
         new_cdata = self.cast(gcp_type, cdata)
         new_cdata._orig = cdata
diff --git a/doc/source/ref.rst b/doc/source/ref.rst
index fd847678..46efa026 100644
--- a/doc/source/ref.rst
+++ b/doc/source/ref.rst
@@ -318,6 +318,11 @@ returned by ``ffi.new()``, the returned pointer objects have *ownership*,
 which means the destructor is called as soon as *this* exact returned
 object is garbage-collected.
 
+**ffi.gc(ptr, None)**: removes the ownership on a object returned by a
+regular call to ``ffi.gc``, and no destructor will be called when it
+is garbage-collected.  The object is modified in-place, and the
+function returns ``None``.
+
 Note that this should be avoided for large memory allocations or
 for limited resources.  This is particularly true on PyPy: its GC does
 not know how much memory or how many resources the returned ``ptr``
diff --git a/doc/source/whatsnew.rst b/doc/source/whatsnew.rst
index fa31f147..58e9eb80 100644
--- a/doc/source/whatsnew.rst
+++ b/doc/source/whatsnew.rst
@@ -3,6 +3,13 @@ What's New
 ======================
 
 
+v1.next
+=======
+
+* ``ffi.gc(p, None)`` removes the destructor on an object previously
+  created by another call to ``ffi.gc()``
+
+
 v1.6
 ====
 
diff --git a/testing/cffi0/backend_tests.py b/testing/cffi0/backend_tests.py
index 536d9ea5..3a9dcdaf 100644
--- a/testing/cffi0/backend_tests.py
+++ b/testing/cffi0/backend_tests.py
@@ -1522,6 +1522,20 @@ def test_gc_4(self):
         import gc; gc.collect(); gc.collect(); gc.collect()
         assert seen == [3]
 
+    def test_gc_disable(self):
+        ffi = FFI(backend=self.Backend())
+        p = ffi.new("int *", 123)
+        py.test.raises(TypeError, ffi.gc, p, None)
+        seen = []
+        q1 = ffi.gc(p, lambda p: seen.append(1))
+        q2 = ffi.gc(q1, lambda p: seen.append(2))
+        import gc; gc.collect()
+        assert seen == []
+        assert ffi.gc(q1, None) is None
+        del q1, q2
+        import gc; gc.collect(); gc.collect(); gc.collect()
+        assert seen == [2]
+
     def test_gc_finite_list(self):
         ffi = FFI(backend=self.Backend())
         p = ffi.new("int *", 123)