Results of offline commissioning tests for a new dedicated gas cell for the Mass Analysing Recoil Apparatus (MARA) Low-Energy Branch are reported. Evacuation time, ion survival and transport efficiency in helium buffer gas were characterized with a radioactive 223Raα-recoil source. Suppression of the ion signal, originating from non-neutralized species in the gas cell, was explored with 219Rn ions, the daughter recoil of 223Ra, as a function of voltage applied to one of the ion-collector electrodes. Two-step laser resonance ionization of stable tin isotopes produced inside the gas cell from a heated bronze filament was demonstrated, and broadening of the atomic resonances in argon buffer gas was studied. These tests indicate the suitability of the new gas cell for future in-gas laser spectroscopy studies of exotic nuclei at the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyväskylä.