Gun laws in the place you live.

[JirkaV]

Having gone through all posts I realized that we should go back to topic.
Here you will find few details about gun control could also be in the heart of Europe - in Czech Republic.
Person who wants to possess and/or carry fire arm has to go through the following procedure:
1. First of all to decide what he wants the weapon for. Basically, we have five types of gun licence and these types can be freely combined: A - collection, B - sport, C - hunting, D - professional, E - selfdefence.
Supposing the citizen wants a selfloading pistol for sport shooting and self-defence. He will need licence B+E. First of all he has to pass through examination carried out by a authorised person nominated by local police department. The exams will include both teoretical and practical parts. Writen part will check applicant´s knowledge of gun-related law, technical specifications of different guns and ammunition, law concerning self-defence and first aid in case of firearem injury. In practical part the applicant will be asked to disassemble and assemble different kinds of weapons - usually selfloading pistol, shotgun and rimfire rifle, he will have to show his ability to handle weapons safely, clean them and also to shoot on short and long distance. Almost any shooting range would organize courses to teach this.
Then medical check will be required. Applicant will visit his practical doctor who should be aware of his possible drinking or drug problems and other health problems which could effect negatively his ability to possess weapon (poor sight, serious mental problems etc). If he finds no such problems, he gives the applicant confirmation is this respect.
Now, the citizen can apply for gun licence. Police will check his criminal records and if he has none, police MUST issue a gun licence. Licence is valid for 5 years and must be extended until the citizen is physically capable of holding arms. No new tests are necessary, only a fresh medical check every 5 years.
Holder of gun licence can start buying the arms. Weapons are divided into four caterogies:
A - banned weapons, accessories and ammunition (fully automatic guns, silencers, laser pointing devices, JHP ammunition …..). We need permission from police to buy these things and police are very reluctand to allow it. In case of category A weapons it is upto police to decide wheather they allow them or not.
B - weapons obtainable subject to prior permission of local police - selfloading pistols, rifles with barrel lenght less then 600 mm etc. It is very important that if citizen applies for permission to buy such gun, police HAS NO LEGAL GROUND to decline such request and approval MUST be given. Calibre, type of gun and number of guns is not limited.
Once permit is given, citizen can buy any number of weapons and any amount of ammunition.
When I buy a new weapon „B“, I have to bring it to local police dept. for registration.
C - weapons freely obtainable by licence holder over 18 years but subject to registration by local police department (rifles of any calibre, hunting rifles, shotguns will barrel lenght more than 600 mm ….). I can go and buy them anytime but have to bring them to police department where they are registered.
D - weapons freely available for any person over 18 years - airguns, historical weapons ….
So our citizen has valid gun licence and he has purchased as many weapons as he wanted to have, including any amount of ammunition. He can now carry maximum 2 pieces of firearms with him anytime and anywhere in loaded condition and use them for sport and self-defence. If he feels confortable with carrying one shotgun and one selfloading pistol, both loaded, he can do that and there is nothing to stop him. There are of course some places where guns cannot be taken - court buildings or places where a lot of people gather such as sport events or street demonstrations. Only concealed carry of weapons is allowed, guns must not be shown anytime, unless they are being used.
The more guns citizen owns the stricter safety precautions must be taken to store them safely at home. If I have 3 weapons of cat. A, B or C or more, they must be locked in safe.
Police will issue „gun ID“ for each gun of cat. A, B or C and this ID, together with gun licence must be shown to police if requested whenever gun is taken out of home.
There are no restrictions at all in our country concerning carrying of „cold“ arms, everybody can have and carry as many knives, swords, machetas of any size, defence sprays and other arms as he wishes.
Carrying gun is like driving a car. No alcohol, no drugs. Drinking while having gun with me is the fastest way to loose my gun licence immediately.
Despite of very liberal gun policy, the number of crimes committed with legally possessed guns is very low, in total number of crimes it is negligeable. About 300 000 people have gun licence and they own about 600 000 of different kind of fire arms. In fact, it is very special community, very responsible and most law-keeping people I know. No wonder - any conflict with law means at least temporary lost of licence and no one wants to say good by to his loved metal or plastic friend.
In principle, gun legislation in our country is very well balanced. No person with criminal record, drugs or drink addiction or serious menlal illness can get hold of weapon and on the other side, any law-keeping honest citizen can own and carry weapon whenever he or she decides to do so. Of course, like any other freedom given to people, it may cause some problems, but after 40 years of communist dictatorship we know very well that freedom is the most important value.

[CharlesBronson]

Insteresting, is very similar in some aspect of the actual gun laws in Argentina, thank you.

[Glider]

One interesting quirk in the Gun Laws of the UK. Handguns are almost totally banned, apart from Northern Ireland where they are legal. Please don't ask me the logic of that decision.

[drgondog]

Originally Posted by JirkaV

In principle, gun legislation in our country is very well balanced. No person with criminal record, drugs or drink addiction or serious menlal illness can get hold of weapon and on the other side, any law-keeping honest citizen can own and carry weapon whenever he or she decides to do so. Of course, like any other freedom given to people, it may cause some problems, but after 40 years of communist dictatorship we know very well that freedom is the most important value.

Very interesting note - thank you.

In principle all the steps you presented except the Registration part might be acceptable here, at least in the demonstrated competency processes.

At the end of the day, however, once registered the locations are defined should an 'unfriendly' authority decide that gun owneship is a bad idea for citizens.

[Matt308]

Hmmm... every gun is registered. First strike for me. But the US in reality is not far behind that now.

I liked the vision test. You gotta go to a doctor for that one? Or you just reject the guy who has poor vision. I assume that it is "corrected vision". And that unless you are SEVERELY vision impaired, you are denied. But what is that? I'm 20/800 and I could still identify and shoot someone at about 20yds. I could hit someone at 100yds, but likely not positively identify them. The pass/fail criteria of that test would be most interesting.

Laser pointing devices and Jacketed Hollow Point ammunition are Class A (Class III US equivalent)? Why laser pointing devices. You can buy them at your local print shop for Power Point presentations for godsake. JHP? What about Lead Flat Point or Lead Hollow Point or Frangible? That sounds a little politically correct.

What about transfer of weapons? Gov't involved with that too? (likely so)

And regarding cold weapons, is the free use of all cold weapons subject to local jurisdiction? What about switchblades? Are they lawful?

[JirkaV]

To Matt308:
Thanks for your post.
Yes, each gun is registered. It´s certainly nothing to be happy about but still far better than other Euro countries.
Medical check - the approach of doctors is very flexible and in fact, the medical check is virtually a formality for 99 % of applicants. What are the doctors most after are possible problems with drugs or drinking problems. Vision tests are not necessary.
Laser point devices - they are illegal once mounted on gun. The same goes for night vision - it can be used but must not be used together with gun.
Ammunition - in principle, no ammunition with higher body destruction effect is allowed. Therefore most people carry/use FMJ only. Lead flat point is OK, lead hollow point banned. Strange, I agree, this ammo is constructed for self-defence.
Transfer of guns - same rules apply for buying a new gun from gunshop and for buying a gun from private person.
Cold weapons - no govt or local restrictions at all. We can own and carry what we want, including switchblades, butterflies, etc, etc, of any type and size.
I realize that there are a lot of articles in our gun law that could be improved. You must remember that as members of European Union we have to follow general rules set up by European legislation. For example - according to EU legislation no person can buy and carry a class "B" weapon (self-loading pistol) without prior permit from police and good reason for buying and carrying must be given when application is made. We are the only country in Europe where the "good reason" is that I simply WANT to have and carry one. In all other European countries it is different. In most of them you can get a permission to possess a gun but not to carry it. In some countries you will not even be allowed to keep a pistol at home or, number of guns is restricted, calibre is limited etc. In Germany, even a policeman is not allowed to carry gun after duty. In France, you can have one pistol at home. In Italy, use of "duty" callibre is banned (no 9mm Luger, no .45 etc), in UK short guns are banned completely and even olympic shooters have to travel to Switzerland or Ireland for training.
This is why I dare to say that our gun legislation is the best in Europe and can be easily compared with average US state. It looks complicated but in fact it is quite easy. For example, if I want to purchase new pistol, I fill a simple form and go to local police. They will just check the validity of my gun licence and issue a permit on spot (usualy it does not take more than 10 minutes). The permit is issued e.g. for "one piece of self-loading pistol" and is valid for unlimited period of time. If I want to save time I can go there and ask for permit for three different pistols, three revolvers, three shotguns etc and only when I buy one I have to come back and register it. The most important thing is that they have no right to refuse. In other Euro countries the police will not simply give permit to buy or carry because they did not find the reason you have given them as "appropriate" and their decision is final.
Another example - 15 year old child can own (not carry) a selfloading pistol or rifle here, provided he or she is member of shooting club and parents´ approval is given. Also, child over 10 years can shoot all kinds of weapons at shooting range, under supervision of an adult.
Sorry for a long post but I feel that it is important to show that there are countries with reasonable gun law in Europe as well.

[CharlesBronson]

For anybody interested in the complexities of registering a gun in the Nice Girls/Soccer players/Cows and Soya land ( Also know as Argentina in some sources) the national registering entity have a english website.

National Registry of Weapons - Argentina

Basicly you got two types of license , the so called "Civilian use" and the "Conditioned civilian use"

The first one covers hunting shotguns ( not-semiautos), revolvers up to 32 sw long, pistols up to .25 acp and rifles up to 22lr.

The second the majority of semiauto shotguns, hunting rifles from 22 magnum up to 50bmg caliber and medium/large calibre pistols and revolvers ( pistols from 32 acp up to 50AE)

Detachable magazine semiautos rifles like FAL and M-16 are extremely limited, its permit is only granted by the ministery of Defense after long paperwork.

Clip loaded semiauto rifles like SKS or Garand are included in the second category.

There is no need to pass a oftalmologic exame but a psicological exame as well a firearms ability test. The minimum age to adquire firearms is 21.

Concealed carry is granted with special permit but is very hard to obtain, mostly limited to security guards and people who work in unsafe areas and/or dealing with large amount of money.

Airguns are no limited in its power nor subject ot registration but the minimun age to adquire is 16. Black powder firearms are not subject to registering either, the minimum age to purchase is 18.

Minimum caliber for big game hunting 6 mm.

Big and small game hunting with black powder weapons, airguns, bows and crossbow is allowed. Minimun power for big game bow hunting is 55 pds

Hunting of the so called "plagues ( green parrakeet, dove, pigeon, blackbird, squirrel, european rabbit and a rodent call "vizcacha") is allowed all the year around with no limits of pieces taken.