I’ve been thinking about something and want to check an assumption I have. I only hear directly from other people in the USA, and interract with the global community through memes. How are the gun regulations/laws different from yours in terms of strictness, and do you wish there was more or less where you live?
Not looking for a debate here, discuss cold drinks vs hot drinks instead. Appreciate either answer. ❤️
UK. Much, much, MUCH stricter than the US and I’m very glad.
It’s not necessarily that much stricter in Europe. It’s just guns for self-defense, isn’t a thing.
Their are guns everywhere, and everyone who needs a gun has one.
It just stops the random fuckers getting their hands on one for no good reason. Also, automatic weapons are for killing humans. Why even sell those.
You really can’t generalize for Europe. Countries here differ vastly both in regards to laws and gun ownership rates.
the firearm laws between different US states have quite a gulf as well. Your ability to buy a gun, what type you are allowed to own, how much ammo it can hold and what ‘features’ it can have, whether or not you can carry it in public, what training is required if any, etc. are vastly different between states like California and Texas. Even within states the laws around carrying are usually much stricter in most cities than in the countryside.
The one big difference is the 2nd amendment so no state can yet outright ban private ownership.
It’s just guns for self-defense, isn’t a thing.
Not really, it is a thing in Switzerland and Czechia for example.
And even outside of that, not every country has laws as strict as Germany or UK.
No, with very rare exceptions, carrying for self-defense is not allowed in Switzerland.
I believe they are the only 2 countries, so I feel my generalisation is acceptable.
Actually no. Self-defense + concealed carry is allowed in Baltic states as well and home defense (=no concealed carry) is also allowed in Italy and Austria.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_of_gun_laws_by_nation
USA: No permit required for semi-automatic long guns and hand guns
Europe: Allowed with permit – good reason (like sport shooting license or proving danger to life required)
So what you say is bullshit.
As a native commonwealther, guns are legally a no, but that offers no protection from those who would end up getting one.
Something that bugs me is… weapons wouldn’t be needed for defense if booby traps were legal, but those have even less legality in the world than guns, almost as if the whole goal is to make things hard.
Booby traps are not legal and should stay that way because they are indiscriminate and could hurt people you do not intend to, including yourself.
Say you have a medical emergency and tragically die at home, and someone calls for a wellness check on you after weeks or months. If you have your house trapped for “protection,” the first police officer that gets through the door ends up blasted by a rigged up pipe shotgun for no good reason.
I’m not thinking of the kind of booby traps meant to kill, I’m thinking of the classic Scooby Doo kind where they’re just meant to restrain.
So the police would just step in a bear trap, got it.
Since when has the mystery gang ever set up bear traps?
But if course they offer protection as they prevent virtually all cases where someone would get a gun in the first place.
That’s the reason the US has so many gun related terror attacks: guns are ubiquitous, which means any problem can readily escalate to a gun attack. Getting a gun in most other countries requires a significant amount of commitment that most of these cases wouldn’t ever have developed in the first place.
Sure, it decreases the amount of gun violence to criminalize firearms, but if someone is dedicated, this can be circumvented with a black market or some tinkering, and when they do strike, people are more unprepared, giving the suspect almost the same advantage. We not only see this between the different states (since each US state handles firearms differently) but also other nations (the New Zealand and Australian shootings a year or so back were devastating).
Sure, but you trade a lot of only slightly less bad shootings for very rare if bad shootings.
Just chiming in to say this is a great question, and I hope you get quality answers.
The UK has really strict laws on firearms AFAIK, you have to either apply for a certificate from the police or surrender them even if you’re an antique collector. The government website ofc does into more detail. There’s a lot of knife crime in the UK though, enough for it to be a common occurrence on local news and a meme in online circles.
I’m not from here, but in Svalbard, a firearm is a legal requirement due to the bears in the area, but even then the use of it should be a last-resort if all the other bear deterrents have failed. Tom Scott’s got a good video on it.
Theres far less knife crime in the UK than gun crime OR knife crime in USA
That article doesn’t make a fair comparison.
It compares murders (intentional, not legally justified killings) in the UK, to homicides (any and all killings) in the US.
I’m not really involved in the firearms debate, so I can’t say if I want more or less.
There’s not really a huge debate as I think most people are fine with the current status quo.
From my own perspective guns were more available and used more casually by criminals before the 1997 legislation in the wake of the Dunblane massacre. Afterwards it was much less of an issue. If you really wanted one you could get one I’m sure but the cost (financial and risk) has gone up making it less of an option for petty criminals. Now you usually here of gun violence between gangs.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Tom Scott’s got a good video on it
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
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I’m from NZ. I was very surprised to learn that our gun laws were quite lax up until the relatively recent mosque shooting in Christchurch - the assault-style weapon the shooter used was quite legal, including the special modifications he had made to make it better for killing people.
in the wake of that tragedy, things have gotten a lot stricter, though I’m afraid I can’t provide specifics - while I love guns, my collections are confined to the virtual, and I really have no interest in owning one IRL.
Dutch here. Gun laws are strict. Generally, only the police and military carry guns in public. To legally own a firearm without being in either the police or the military you need to be a member of a firing range/club type of deal iirc. And even then only senior members get to take their guns home with them.
There is gun related violence but it’s less of a problem because there’s few guns and they’re harder to come by. It does seem like gun violence might be increasing but I’m unsure if that is due to a few high profile cases and extra media attention or that it’s actually getting worse.
I like it this way. I personally have never felt the need to arm myself and I’m glad it’s mostly professionals that get to carry weapons. It’s not a perfect system and weapons do end up in the hands of the wrong people but it’s the exception more than the rule really.
Several Dutch people told me that firearms are common on ships under the Dutch flag. Given the number of people owning sea-worthy vessels this might be interesting. Do you know anything about this?
Haven’t heard about that but I think ships sailing under a Dutch flag would be treated as Dutch territory for law purposes. Harder to enforce when you’re on the high seas though. And I’m not sure percentage-wise there’s a disproportiona number of Dutch people that own seafaring ships. Most merchant ships would be owned by companies anyway and they’d probably frown upon that stuff.
Dutch merchant ships sailing through pirate infested waters might have armed guards (navy troops, mercenaries) I guess?
I think they may be telling you tall tales.
Gun-related violence is going up because all violent crime is going up. Most Dutchies still underestimate how much of an influence organized crime has become, almost all of it narcotics related.
That said, due to strict gun laws most violent crime happens with knifes, and worryingly increasingly with explosives.
Apparently a 6% increase in crime in 2022 it seems. I suppose violent crime would have increased as well.
As for knives and explosives, that’s bad enough for me an I’m quite content to not add more firearms to that mix as.
You are correct as far as I can recall what has been told to me by my friend who shoots for sport. Besides that I’d like to add that you can’t hunt wildlife unless it’s your job. And it’s only for population control of various wildlife.
Also gun owners need to keep their guns and ammo in two different safes. The police can check if you’re complying to that anytime.
To get a permit they will do a background check on you. My friend got questions about him looking up 3d models of guns online. But he was only looking for fantasy weapon replicas for cosplay reasons.
Furthermore, bullets are as illegal without a gun permit as the guns themselves.
You can only take your gun with you when you are on your way to a range or back home from a range. And not within easy reach.
Owning airsoft weapons requires a club membership to the national airsoft league.
Lastly it’s national news anytime a police officer fires their gun. It’s that rare.
In Canada you can buy hunting rifles at some Canadian Tires (think Target). You must get a PAL license and do some in-person firearms safety and training, store the rifle in a locked and certified gun locker, and can only carry it around to the range and for hunting.
It’s fairly strict on who gets a PAL (I can’t get one ever in my life because I was hospitalized for major depressive disorder when I was 18 and am 30 now).
Most people don’t care about guns here. They’re good for moose hunting and little air rifles are fun to shoot when one goes up to a cottage or something. There’s a small minority here that is very passionate about gun laws, but that same group also is usually very keen on the first and second amendment and often need to be reminded that those are American laws, not Canadian.
Another Canadian. I don’t know the gun laws well, nor do I shoot, so I judge mostly based on the consequences.
Yes, we have gun violence, but it doesn’t dominate the headlines daily. Homicides are still remarkable and mass shootings are still shocking. I suppose this means that we haven’t made guns too easy to acquire, at least relative to the wishes of our population at large.
I don’t think I need stricter controls, but I wouldn’t support looser controls. I support things as they are, largely speaking. I’m prepared to be schooled by a fellow Canadian more in the know.
What I dearly wish to avoid are the conspiracy fantasies of the government coming to take our guns as well as a retroactive insertion of the myth that our country was born in, by, and through guns. It wasn’t. As long as we avoid those two things well enough, we don’t seem to need urgent change regarding gun controls.
My dad has a gun licence (Canadian) and interestingly, he mentioned there was a place in the application where your spouse (and/or former spouse) must sign off on your application too. I can see how that might hinder a few violent exes.
I used to have a license, they called multiple friends and my employer. The RCMP does a background check and they keep doing it, if anything new pops up they can pay you a visit.
It all felt pretty reasonable to me tbh.
Canadian, not a gun owner but here’s the gist: To have guns you need a license and a clean criminal record which is automatically checked so long as you are registered to use them (the PAL). If you are convicted of violent or weapon related crime, you lose privileges. The license has a 28 day mandatory waiting period. Canadian gun owners are free to fact check or clarify this for me.
Once registered can use most long guns, shotguns as they are non-restricted for hunting and typical activities like that (of course you’ll need to be registered separately to publicly conduct that activity). Restricted and prohibited weapons like handguns, semiautomatic and automatic weapons can only be possessed or acquired for people who use it as specifically necessary for their occupation, someone who does target practice as part of a registered club (restricted only), collectors knowledgeable on the series of equipment and certain exemptions for old hand-me-downs. Any time you move these categories of firearms to another location, legally you need to fill out a form and notify authorities.
Illegal firearms often show up here after being smuggled from across the border, where they seem to give them out like candy in comparison.
Somewhat related, I found a gun store in Tokyo once, of all places.
Are you sure that wasn’t one of their hyper realistic airsoft rifle places??
It’s called Shibuya firearms
Denmark here. You can’t buy guns unless it’s for hunting. That means only guns made for hunting are legal ofc.
Result: much more safe to live here.
Personally I think guns have no place in any society, unless it’s for sport like hunting or shooting competitions.
That’s not true. You can own a gun for target shooting too, but just like in the U.K. you have to be a registered member of a club and while you can hold the gun at home, then only under strict controls and a gun can only leave that locker when it’s going to or from the club, or to and from a store for repair or sale.
The guy who went on a mass shooting in Fields (a big shopping mall) used a target shooting rifle from being a member of a shooting club.
Ah yes, I forgot to mention target shooting. I assumed it as a hobby like hunting. The guy in Fields could have used both.
My point is more like you can’t buy semi-automatic guns or something completely unrelated to sport.
Czechia: To get a gun for self-defense, you need to get a permit, which includes mandatory training, tests and a psychological evaluation (which, from what I’ve heard, is not hard to get). You need to have a clean criminal record and they check your misdemeanors too (you may not be allowed to get a permit if you’ve had issues with public drunkenness for example). However, after that you can not only buy a gun but also are automatically allowed to concealed carry.
There are several types of permits and getting a permit for sports or hunting is slightly easier. You need to be 21 years old to get a self-defense permit, you can get a hunting or sports permit when you’re 18 or in special situations (used under supervision) when you’re 15. The permits last 10 years, but you can lose them if you get a criminal record. The gun permit registry is managed by the state police, so it’s easy for them to check the validity of your license if they need to do so.
Gun violence is very rare, so I’m happy with this and see no reason to change it. The people that I know who have a permit (it’s quite uncommon) are very responsible with it.
There are restrictions on which weapons a civilian can buy. No automatic weapons for sure, but I think you can get some semi-automatic gun with a suppressor (cause I’ve heard a guy recommending one such gun for potential home-defense, stating “if I really have to use it, there’s no reason why my family should go deaf in the process”, heh).
Europe has gun laws which are of varying severity. AFAIK some places it’s relatively easy to buy a gun, some ban handguns (because they’re concealable). Some places you’d have a hard time finding a gun, visit Budapest and you’ll come across ads for a day out in a tank + shooting stuff with an AK.
The main thing is that self-defense isn’t really a thing and gun culture is often very low key. Outside (perhaps but not always) the police, mainly hunting and shooting at a club. Most people don’t even care enough about guns, to know what the laws are where they live. Eg. plenty of guns in the UK countryside, but most British people don’t know that because they’re not hunters/farmers/clay pigeon shooters, and often assume they’d be harder to get a hold of than they actually are. Netherlands, Belgium and Germany also have plenty of gun shops, but most people are oblivious, because they don’t really care. Might as well be a fishing shop.
IME gun control isn’t really a political issue most places. Unless there’s been a (exceptionally rare) mass shooting, I honestly don’t think most people even have a fully formed opinion on gun control, so they’ll likely just answer they’re happy with the status quo.
I’m from New Zealand.
Gun laws are fairly strict here. To own a gun at all, you need to get a firearms license (  ). You can get one once you’re 16, and it includes a test of gun safety knowledge and someone coming to check your gun storage. It also only lets you get basic guns: bolt action rifles and shotguns, no handguns or semi auto. To own other guns, you need an endorsement, which has a vetting process similar to what cops go through.
The strictness really only applies to gun ownership though - if you just want to shoot there’s plenty of places you can do that.
It also applies to gun storage and gun transportation. Driving around with a shotgun on a rack behind your head in your ute would not be legal here.
Sure, but you’re not likely to be doing much of either without owning one 🙂 I’d be surprised if a gun owner allowing someone else to store or transport their guns isn’t in breach of their license as well.
@asret yeah, it likely would be in breach. :-)
I just mean the OP is from the US where they have “concealed carry”, “open carry” etc. Compared to that, our laws about what you can do with a gun once you get one are relatively strict.
I live in Oregon but grew up in Australia, where you can’t get guns. There’s a process for farmers to apply for a gun to shoot roos and whatnot, but that’s it. Other than that only police and military get guns.
Having lived in countries with no guns and all the guns, I would vote for almost anyone who promised to criminalize gun ownership here in the US. There’s no benefit to a gun flooded society and infinite misery.
I’m pretty sure Aussies can also get recreational/competition permits. I’ve seen a few Aussies on YouTube who shoot PRS.
Edit: PRS stands for Precision Rifle Shooting. Basically trying to get really tight group on far away targets mostly done with bolt action rifles with high magnification scopes.
