Bulgarian here: my friends had to buy a sturdy storage unit, pass a marksmanship and safety course and pass a psychological evaluation. The latter tests for impulse control, not any underlying conditions and is the same one police officers take.
Then you have to purchase a minimum amount of ammunition and register the firearm.
The process isn’t difficult and permits are given on a shall-issue basis, but it is expensive. Several thousand Euros.
For my category C (bolt-action hunting rifle, that sort of thing) all you need is what you’d call a background check. Be a citizen, have no history of violent crime and whatnot.
For my category B (pistols, semi-automatic rifles) you need a permit. Police check, a short course on weapons laws and wepons safety, and an evaluation by a psychologist. And quite a bit of patience to get the permit approved.
Registration is the same for all firearms, the store takes care of that for you. It’s just a form.
Italy: you can’t just buy a gun. You have to get a permit first, and the permit of course involves checks. With the permit then you can buy guns immediately because you were already checked. Then you must register the gun within 72 hours.
Unless you have a criminal history, it’s just boring paperwork. Literally because everything is still done on paper because computers, what are those things?
-register the weapon at the central register via the arms dealer within 6 weeks of purchase
However, the Austrian law has different categories of weapons, with the above being only true for weapons of category C.
For category B weapons one also needs:
-a Waffenpass, literally weapon passport, or a Waffenbesitzkarte, literally weapon ownership license
The weapon ownership license must be issued if one fulfills these requirements:
-over 21
-undergo a psychological test
-be able to give a reason for ownership, like a hunting license or being a collector or for sport or self defense
-have a course on weapon ownership
The weapon pass is issued by the government office at their discretion and enables not only the ownership of weapons, but also carrying them in public. It‘s usually only given to people like police officers, prosecutors and the like.
Weapons of category A are illegal to own for anyone.
Handgun (pistol/revolver). Became member of gun club, took a short study over two weekends) No exam, just some shooting.
Rifles/shotguns: Took a “hunter test” as it is called here( minimum age for this certificate is 14) Took about a week (evenings). Then a small test (30-45 minutes)
Both are quite easy and cheap. Minimum age for handgun is 21, for hunting guns/shotguns 18)
You must take a background check as well.
Edit: Some stricter rules for handguns. Minimum time of membership in gun club is 6 months. Then around 20 weeks to get approval from police to buy a gun.
I know people work around this by signing a paper that you just borrow your gun until the approval is ready. At least for hunting riftles this is done.
I don’t own one, but in Germany the situation is generally like this:
a gun license is not something you just get, you have to apply for it. And besides a background check and a mandatory training course to make sure you know how to handle and take care of guns, one of the main hurdles is that you have to give a reason why you need a gun in the first place. If you’re a hunter (with a hunter’s license), that’s a good reason. Being employed by armoured car / private security company is another. Doing shooting as a sport is not a good reason – you are allowed to shoot within official firing ranges without a license. And obviously “I just wanna shoot” is definitely not a good reason either.
But even if you have one, any license you get is only valid in the context of your occupation. Hunters may use their rifles for hunting, but for nothing else. Even police officers are generally not allowed to carry guns in their spare time.
Gun licenses are only valid for 3 years, after which they have to be renewed, including new background checks, etc.
a gun license allows you to carry and use a loaded weapon, but it actually doesn’t allow you to own or buy a weapon. For that you need a special gun ownership card, which has its own application process (again with a stated reason why you need to own a gun). These two licenses are fully independent of the other, and it’s quite common to have one but not the other. If you’re in private security, you’re only allowed to use a gun while on your job anyway, so there might be less reason to actually own one. I already mentioned sports shooters, and for gun collectors you probably have to make your weapons inoperable or something.
Fill in a form with pretty much just your name, DOB and address. Tick a box that you have no criminal record or addictions and agree to the police double checking that. Send the paper to the police.
A few days to a few weeks later (depending on workload at the police. A few times turnaround was just one business day plus two days in the mail.)
This allows up to 3 firearms in the same transaction. Including pump actions, lever actions, foreign milsurp bolt actions, revolvers, as well as pistols under 20 rounds capacity and semi auto rifles under 10 rounds.
“High capacity” semi autos and pistols are a little more complicated, but not much. Full autos, suppressors and greande launchers quite a bit more, but still entirely possible (i have two suppressors now).
Hunting weapons and swiss mil-surp bolt actions are easier.
Also another common path is do your mandatory military service and keep your service weapon afterwards.
Monaco has the psychological and background. Uniquely they make you join the only shooting club, for I believe a year shooting regularly before they allow you the permit to purchase a pistol from the club.
Ireland: Firearms licencing is controlled by the local police. You need a Firearms Certificate for each firearm you own.
There’s two categories of firearms – Restricted and Unrestricted. The general population can forget about Restricted, they’re autos, center-fire semi-autos, bullpups, military weapons etc.
For Unrestricted:
You need to have a reason. Good reasons are hunting, vermin control or sport shooting. Self defense is not.
There will be a criminal background check. Interestingly, swindling your employer out of a million doesn’t disqualify you but taking a swing in a pub dispute, or domestic violence will.
You can’t be insane, and you have to give permission for them to check with your GP doctor.
You need a gun safe that’s bolted to wall or floor and that only you has access to.
You need to demonstrate competence in the safe handling of firearms. You can show this by passing a safe handling course and getting a cert. There’s no national standard for this, though.
Sound suppressors have to be granted, and your firearms cert will be marked if you are granted.
Be aware that there is no “European firearms law” in any way, but each country has their own laws on arms.
Germany is very strict on firearms, while Austria and Switzerland are very loose in their regulatory oversight.
For Germany, you would need to prove proficiency and regular need for firearms (as in, 12 times a year on a club’s range, hunter with an active hunting area), which then may offer the opportunity to get the right to buy firearms in the first place. You then may buy one from a registered gun shop, need to get it registered with your gun ownership permit and then pick it up.
Always to be stored and transported in a locked container and separate from ammunition.
Private resale of arms is a crime, carry permits are theoretically possible, but won’t be issued in practice.
There is another caveat to it: Germany bans the ownership of guns which “look like military arms” to which there is a decree which tells those apart from “civilian arms”. This decree very clearly was created by taking a Mauser Kar. 98k and an original Colt AR15 and declare everything the AR15 has but the Kar. 98k hasn’t a “feature exclusive to military firearms” and therefore illegal.
Knives are considered to be more dangerous than firearms in German arms law and for many kinds of knives, the ownership is prohibited, while carry of almost all knives is prohibited as well.
Had to take a hunters safety course. That took about 3 weekends (theory and some Shooting and a test at the end).
After that i had to fill out an application with the police and get a background check done. Also show the police that i had a gun cabinet/safe (just took a photo and sent with the application).
All in all it took about 3 months from i started the course until i had my gun. About 2 months of that was because of the slow paper mill at the police.
For each weapon I’ve purchased after my first I’ve been able to take it with ne the same day on loanout until paperwork has come through.
That’s only happened to me once though, since I’ve mostly gotten the paperwork within a couple of days, or the same day with the new application system of the police.
This is only for hunting weapons though. For weapons like a handgun or AR style rifles (non hunting) other rules apply that i am not familiar with.
For buying ammo i just beed to show a valid license of a gun registered on me to buy that calibre ammo. Or a loanout-document if i need to buy ammo for another calibre than the ones i own.
Depends quite a bit on the country. May I suggest r/EuropeGuns, there are some stickies there that might interest you.
For Sweden it depends on if you want it for hunting or for sport.
Hunting requires a hunter’s exam (mine took two weeks). With that you’re eligible to buy guns you can legally hunt with (an AR-15 is okay, currently anyways). Minimum barrel length for hunting is 18″ for rifles and I think about 17″ for shotguns.
For sport you need to join a club. As a total beginner your first 9mm handgun will take you a minimum of 12 months in the club.
But once you have your certifications it’s not hard to get a decent collection. Here’s mine. https://imgur.com/mina-sportredskap-skyttesport-EBmLwix (old pic, I don’t have one of the shotguns anymore and I got two more rifles instead).
UK here. DO NOT bring a weapon (firearm, pistol, shotgun, rifle) of any kind with you to UK.We have strict rules re firearms. You would need a firearms license, background check, and have a locked safe place to store firearm, subject to police inspection. Most fork who want to shoot as recreation belong to shooting clubs based on a specific location and safe store for firearms.
Purchasing a firearm in UK is subject to police and other checks.
join a club, wait 1 month, prepare for the practical and theoreticall part of the exam, pass the exam, do your psychophisical evaluation, apply for your permit(s) at the state police office.
For purchase, you need to request a “permit to acquire” – you can order as many of them as you want at a time, but no more than the number of firearms you are legally permitted to own (8-50, its kinda wierd and regional). Those permits expire as soon as your personal ID expires, and those are issued for 10 years.
You need to register your firearm manually within 5 days of purchase, either at the Office or by sending the papers through postal service.
We can own anything thats not fullauto, thats the only practical limit.
I’m too lazy to explain it in depth but essentially you have to do the following:
Prove that you can be trusted with a gun
Present a reason for why you want a gun. Valid reasons are recreational shooting, hunting, collecting or if you need it for work (Police and high level security stuff) Self defense is not a valid reason.
That’s about it in oversimplified terms. Also you need to get a permit for each type of gun you want to own. So no AR-15’s for duck hunting or 44 magnums just for fun.
It’s a rather complicated process but basically anyone who is not a criminal or mentally unstable can own a firearm of some sort if they have an actual use for it. It’s just meant to be tedious enough that people don’t get guns for shits and giggles, and strict enough that crooks and crazy people can’t get them.
Comments
Bulgarian here: my friends had to buy a sturdy storage unit, pass a marksmanship and safety course and pass a psychological evaluation. The latter tests for impulse control, not any underlying conditions and is the same one police officers take.
Then you have to purchase a minimum amount of ammunition and register the firearm.
The process isn’t difficult and permits are given on a shall-issue basis, but it is expensive. Several thousand Euros.
Depends.
For my category C (bolt-action hunting rifle, that sort of thing) all you need is what you’d call a background check. Be a citizen, have no history of violent crime and whatnot.
For my category B (pistols, semi-automatic rifles) you need a permit. Police check, a short course on weapons laws and wepons safety, and an evaluation by a psychologist. And quite a bit of patience to get the permit approved.
Registration is the same for all firearms, the store takes care of that for you. It’s just a form.
Italy: you can’t just buy a gun. You have to get a permit first, and the permit of course involves checks. With the permit then you can buy guns immediately because you were already checked. Then you must register the gun within 72 hours.
Unless you have a criminal history, it’s just boring paperwork. Literally because everything is still done on paper because computers, what are those things?
To own a firearm in Austria, one needs:
-to be over 18
-an official ID
-not have been prohibited from owning weapons
-register the weapon at the central register via the arms dealer within 6 weeks of purchase
However, the Austrian law has different categories of weapons, with the above being only true for weapons of category C.
For category B weapons one also needs:
-a Waffenpass, literally weapon passport, or a Waffenbesitzkarte, literally weapon ownership license
The weapon ownership license must be issued if one fulfills these requirements:
-over 21
-undergo a psychological test
-be able to give a reason for ownership, like a hunting license or being a collector or for sport or self defense
-have a course on weapon ownership
The weapon pass is issued by the government office at their discretion and enables not only the ownership of weapons, but also carrying them in public. It‘s usually only given to people like police officers, prosecutors and the like.
Weapons of category A are illegal to own for anyone.
And that‘s it.
Norway:
Both are quite easy and cheap. Minimum age for handgun is 21, for hunting guns/shotguns 18)
You must take a background check as well.
Edit: Some stricter rules for handguns. Minimum time of membership in gun club is 6 months. Then around 20 weeks to get approval from police to buy a gun.
I know people work around this by signing a paper that you just borrow your gun until the approval is ready. At least for hunting riftles this is done.
I don’t own one, but in Germany the situation is generally like this:
a gun license is not something you just get, you have to apply for it. And besides a background check and a mandatory training course to make sure you know how to handle and take care of guns, one of the main hurdles is that you have to give a reason why you need a gun in the first place. If you’re a hunter (with a hunter’s license), that’s a good reason. Being employed by armoured car / private security company is another. Doing shooting as a sport is not a good reason – you are allowed to shoot within official firing ranges without a license. And obviously “I just wanna shoot” is definitely not a good reason either.
But even if you have one, any license you get is only valid in the context of your occupation. Hunters may use their rifles for hunting, but for nothing else. Even police officers are generally not allowed to carry guns in their spare time.
Gun licenses are only valid for 3 years, after which they have to be renewed, including new background checks, etc.
a gun license allows you to carry and use a loaded weapon, but it actually doesn’t allow you to own or buy a weapon. For that you need a special gun ownership card, which has its own application process (again with a stated reason why you need to own a gun). These two licenses are fully independent of the other, and it’s quite common to have one but not the other. If you’re in private security, you’re only allowed to use a gun while on your job anyway, so there might be less reason to actually own one. I already mentioned sports shooters, and for gun collectors you probably have to make your weapons inoperable or something.
Fill in a form with pretty much just your name, DOB and address. Tick a box that you have no criminal record or addictions and agree to the police double checking that. Send the paper to the police.
A few days to a few weeks later (depending on workload at the police. A few times turnaround was just one business day plus two days in the mail.)
This allows up to 3 firearms in the same transaction. Including pump actions, lever actions, foreign milsurp bolt actions, revolvers, as well as pistols under 20 rounds capacity and semi auto rifles under 10 rounds.
“High capacity” semi autos and pistols are a little more complicated, but not much. Full autos, suppressors and greande launchers quite a bit more, but still entirely possible (i have two suppressors now).
Hunting weapons and swiss mil-surp bolt actions are easier.
Also another common path is do your mandatory military service and keep your service weapon afterwards.
Monaco has the psychological and background. Uniquely they make you join the only shooting club, for I believe a year shooting regularly before they allow you the permit to purchase a pistol from the club.
I don’t own any firearms personally, but in order to legally buy one in France, you must do the following:
Open an account with the SIA (système d’information sur les armes; a government database that tracks this info)
Join a shooting club
Obtain a medical certificate from your doctor saying you’re physically okay to use firearms
Complete a request with the regional prefect
Undergo a criminal background check with no serious crimes
Buy a gun safe (the police will ask for the receipt, and, as I understand, may ask to inspect the safe)
Have an interview with the police
There is a maximum amount of ammunition you can purchase annually, not sure how much that is
Ireland: Firearms licencing is controlled by the local police. You need a Firearms Certificate for each firearm you own.
There’s two categories of firearms – Restricted and Unrestricted. The general population can forget about Restricted, they’re autos, center-fire semi-autos, bullpups, military weapons etc.
For Unrestricted:
You need to have a reason. Good reasons are hunting, vermin control or sport shooting. Self defense is not.
There will be a criminal background check. Interestingly, swindling your employer out of a million doesn’t disqualify you but taking a swing in a pub dispute, or domestic violence will.
You can’t be insane, and you have to give permission for them to check with your GP doctor.
You need a gun safe that’s bolted to wall or floor and that only you has access to.
You need to demonstrate competence in the safe handling of firearms. You can show this by passing a safe handling course and getting a cert. There’s no national standard for this, though.
Sound suppressors have to be granted, and your firearms cert will be marked if you are granted.
Each cert runs for three years and costs €80.
Be aware that there is no “European firearms law” in any way, but each country has their own laws on arms.
Germany is very strict on firearms, while Austria and Switzerland are very loose in their regulatory oversight.
For Germany, you would need to prove proficiency and regular need for firearms (as in, 12 times a year on a club’s range, hunter with an active hunting area), which then may offer the opportunity to get the right to buy firearms in the first place. You then may buy one from a registered gun shop, need to get it registered with your gun ownership permit and then pick it up.
Always to be stored and transported in a locked container and separate from ammunition.
Private resale of arms is a crime, carry permits are theoretically possible, but won’t be issued in practice.
There is another caveat to it: Germany bans the ownership of guns which “look like military arms” to which there is a decree which tells those apart from “civilian arms”. This decree very clearly was created by taking a Mauser Kar. 98k and an original Colt AR15 and declare everything the AR15 has but the Kar. 98k hasn’t a “feature exclusive to military firearms” and therefore illegal.
Knives are considered to be more dangerous than firearms in German arms law and for many kinds of knives, the ownership is prohibited, while carry of almost all knives is prohibited as well.
Had to take a hunters safety course. That took about 3 weekends (theory and some Shooting and a test at the end).
After that i had to fill out an application with the police and get a background check done. Also show the police that i had a gun cabinet/safe (just took a photo and sent with the application).
All in all it took about 3 months from i started the course until i had my gun. About 2 months of that was because of the slow paper mill at the police.
For each weapon I’ve purchased after my first I’ve been able to take it with ne the same day on loanout until paperwork has come through.
That’s only happened to me once though, since I’ve mostly gotten the paperwork within a couple of days, or the same day with the new application system of the police.
This is only for hunting weapons though. For weapons like a handgun or AR style rifles (non hunting) other rules apply that i am not familiar with.
For buying ammo i just beed to show a valid license of a gun registered on me to buy that calibre ammo. Or a loanout-document if i need to buy ammo for another calibre than the ones i own.
Depends quite a bit on the country. May I suggest r/EuropeGuns, there are some stickies there that might interest you.
For Sweden it depends on if you want it for hunting or for sport.
Hunting requires a hunter’s exam (mine took two weeks). With that you’re eligible to buy guns you can legally hunt with (an AR-15 is okay, currently anyways). Minimum barrel length for hunting is 18″ for rifles and I think about 17″ for shotguns.
For sport you need to join a club. As a total beginner your first 9mm handgun will take you a minimum of 12 months in the club.
But once you have your certifications it’s not hard to get a decent collection. Here’s mine. https://imgur.com/mina-sportredskap-skyttesport-EBmLwix (old pic, I don’t have one of the shotguns anymore and I got two more rifles instead).
UK here. DO NOT bring a weapon (firearm, pistol, shotgun, rifle) of any kind with you to UK.We have strict rules re firearms. You would need a firearms license, background check, and have a locked safe place to store firearm, subject to police inspection. Most fork who want to shoot as recreation belong to shooting clubs based on a specific location and safe store for firearms.
Purchasing a firearm in UK is subject to police and other checks.
None really the Swedish Hunting Agent told me to meet him under a specific underpass close to my home at 22.30.
He even said he already fixed the bureaucracy for me so I didn’t have to worry about filling out ny forms.
Poland:
join a club, wait 1 month, prepare for the practical and theoreticall part of the exam, pass the exam, do your psychophisical evaluation, apply for your permit(s) at the state police office.
For purchase, you need to request a “permit to acquire” – you can order as many of them as you want at a time, but no more than the number of firearms you are legally permitted to own (8-50, its kinda wierd and regional). Those permits expire as soon as your personal ID expires, and those are issued for 10 years.
You need to register your firearm manually within 5 days of purchase, either at the Office or by sending the papers through postal service.
We can own anything thats not fullauto, thats the only practical limit.
I’m too lazy to explain it in depth but essentially you have to do the following:
Prove that you can be trusted with a gun
Present a reason for why you want a gun. Valid reasons are recreational shooting, hunting, collecting or if you need it for work (Police and high level security stuff) Self defense is not a valid reason.
That’s about it in oversimplified terms. Also you need to get a permit for each type of gun you want to own. So no AR-15’s for duck hunting or 44 magnums just for fun.
It’s a rather complicated process but basically anyone who is not a criminal or mentally unstable can own a firearm of some sort if they have an actual use for it. It’s just meant to be tedious enough that people don’t get guns for shits and giggles, and strict enough that crooks and crazy people can’t get them.