I am curious about where the US stands compared to other countries in terms of ease of gun ownership, concealed/open carry, weapon/owner registration, etc.
I understand coutries such as England, Australia, Canada have considerably greater restrictions than the US. I understand private gun ownership is prohibited in China. A quick search here suggests that only a few countries - including Pakistan and the Czech Repubic - permit purchase without permit and do not require weapons reqistration.
In what other countries is gun ownership as easy and gun possession as free as in the US?
There is at least one South American country that allows private ownership of full-auto arms, as well as legal conversions to such. I can’t recall which. I know of it because there is a fellow from there who occasionally posts his cool shit on one of the gun boards, and the mods looked into it and determined that he was within his local laws. He still gets challenged by junior modding in most of his threads, so it frequently gets mentioned.
Actually, I searched Somalia, and it seems private ownership or automatic weapons is banned, and handguns must be registered. But that might move us into GD territory as to the significance of gun rights/regulation.
I was thinking along the lines of capital punishment. As I recall, a relatively short list of countries including China, the Koreas, Singaore… still allowed it. Not exactly a club to which I would think an ostensibly freedom-loving and forward-thinking country would wish to beling. Was wondering who lined up with us regarding gun policy. And if the countries that are the most like us, and who succeed in areas we consider important take a greatly different approach, why do Americans think our approach is inherently desireable or beneficial? Do we have some reasons to fear our government or fellow citizens greatly exceeding the rest of the developed world?
Don’t the Swiss take their assault rifles home with them after serving time in the Swiss militia? I believe that they have some strict rules about needing permits, but that most of these rules are waved for former military personnel, which most of the Swiss are by default.
I’ve seen some videos on EnglishRussia of folks busting out full autos, but this site says otherwise.
(Tangentially, I started by looking at wikipedia. Their description of Russian gun laws sounds remarkably sane. I could actually get behind regulations like that here, provided that there was a tier to allow handguns as well (or just allow them at five years, like long guns). Of course, practically speaking, this would require an amendment to the Constitution, so it’s pretty much a no go.)
It depends a lot on the category. In the United States, suppressors are rare, expensive, and require a tax stamp and Class II license to purchase. From my rather dated knowledge of Italy and Germany, suppressors are relatively inexpensive and considered a common courtesy to lessen the racket.
AFAIK, that is still the case. But they don’t issue any ammunition to keep at home with the rifle anymore like they used to (the original idea being that a reservist should be able to fight his way through to a rally point in the event of an armed conflict). It was a small amount of ammunition, anyway.
What Donnerwetter said. Plus, the reservists don’t own their guns, may not use them other than for official purposes, have to account for them at all times and can be required to hand them in at any time. So, not the kind of paradise the NRA longs for.
there was an article (can’t remember where) recently that explored this issue in some depth. One thing I remember from the article is that citizens in the military are expected to keep their military weapons at home. And that means literally. They can’t take them OUT of the home unless they are traveling to a recognized shooting range. They are not allowed to have ammunition in the house along with the weapon. Ammunition is at the range only. When the interviewer pointed out to a Swiss citizen how different this was from the US conception of weapons possession, the Swiss protested that they were not South Texas. Clearly not.
Most male Swiss. My Swiss friend told me that there an extremely strong social inhibition against using your weapon for any purpose except target practice and that you had to account for every round of ammunition used. I suppose some Swiss had hunting rifles or handguns for one reason or other, but I imagine these require licenses. When my friend retired from the military he was allowed to keep his gun, but I think (I am not sure of this and he died a couple years ago, so I can’t ask him) it had to be rendered inoperative. In any case, the ammunition is available only from the military.
Mexico has more permissive gun laws than many Americans believe. The notion that guns are totally banned in Mexico, hence Mexico is awash in gun violence because the law-abiding public cannot possess arms is not entirely true. Bringing guns and ammunition across the border brings severe legal penalties, and carrying arms in public areas is largely forbidden, but the legal possession of guns is hardly rare in Mexico.
What’s debatable about it? It doesn’t matter what the law says in most of Somalia, in practice the law is whatever the local warlord says it is. And it’s pretty obvious that the warlords and their henchmen can and do have all the guns they can get. Or are you claiming that gun laws are the cause of Somalia’s troubles?
You have to attend training and pass a test on the laws and regulations involved with gun use.
You have to pass a practical test with the weapon type you are applying for, pistol, rifle etc.
You have to justify why you want a particular weapon each time you apply for a permit. i.e a rifle for hunting, pistol for self defence, pistol for target shooting.
The police can and will limit the number and type of guns you may have. So you can’t ask for 15 pistols for self defence since you only need one.
