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Joerg Sprave who is best known for his slingshots, crossbows, and exotica also collects guns. He describes German gun laws in this video. Carrying a gun is virtually never allowed which is a disappointment to Americans, but it is possible to purchase machineguns with a license. Joerg has mentioned owning an M-14 in at least one other video. There is no cap on the number of choppers in civilian hands.
A number of European countries allow civilians to own machineguns. This includes Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, and Northern Ireland. It may surprise some, but Northern Ireland does not have the same savage gun laws as the rest of the UK. Concealed carry is allowed as well. Police permission is still required, however.
German gun laws aren't the best, but they're certainly not the worst.
Gun ownership in Europe, although not comparable to the US, is still fairly high - 20 or 30 weapons per 100 citizens.
Switzerland is a special case - many of the citizens are considered part of the Swiss militia and thus allowed to have military weapons, including fully automatic weapons - in their house. Something like 30% of household have weapons. Switzerland also has an extremely low violent crime rate - something that the anti-gun crowd that argues more guns mean more crime has yet to come to terms with.
I'm kinda' short on specifics about firearms ownership in Germany ...
but for years, a good friend of mine hosted his friends from Germany on Colorado hunting trips ... deer and elk, mostly. As my friend had left the Denver area, he would use my residence as his "home base" during those times. So his group of friends were my house guests when they came over from Germany for the hunts.
Even though the group of people were all professionals, including some doctors ... none of them possessed firearms in Germany. Nor were they able to obtain hunting licenses with hunting privileges there which was part of the reason why they did not own firearms in their home country.
As I understood it, obtaining a big game hunting license in Germany was an expensive and difficult proposition. You had to have a place to hunt ... and most of those lands are privately owned, not public lands such as found in the USA. You either owned the land or joined a hunting club or got a landowner to give you permission ... all of which were a big deal and expensive, beyond the income levels of even the MD's. At that, you had to be able to prove that you could properly field dress a big game animal so that nothing went to waste. The field dress level of required proficiency was almost to the level of a vet. I doubt few USA hunters have ever learned to dress out an animal to that level.
The bottom line was that it was far less expensive for my friend to have his buddies come over from Germany and use his rifles, pay for a non-resident big game license, and stay here for a couple of weeks for the chance to hunt big game than it was to exercise their privileges in Germany. And that, IMO, was the big bar to firearms ownership in Germany ... the overall expense to acquire and possess for a very limited possible use. It may be legal, but few apparently have the resources to exercise the privilege.
Another neighbor of mine now has fairly extensive family still in Germany, so they go over there for an extended vacation every two years. He is a "champion" at a couple of local "gun clubs" in their family area German towns. Much to the dismay of his relatives, he's been the top shooter at their annual marksmanship contests. But what are they shooting? .22 cal air rifles at 30'. Not only are these matches a slow timed event, but they are allowed to use a framework to support the air rifle while shooting offhand. He's brought home keeper trophies a couple of times ... last trip, he said that he'd retire the main trophy with so many wins and the locals (his uncle) was very unhappy about the prospect of the trophy leaving the country. He threw his last two shots so that the uncle was in contention to win that time around. Years ago, that "gun club" did more conventional small bore target shooting. But for whatever reasons, several of the Anschutz target rifles his wife's family used to shoot are now sitting here in the USA in his gun cabinet. Fine target rifles for 50', he has no interest in punching holes in paper with them here. So they've become wall hangars and will likely get passed on to the grandchildren in time; they've already learned to shoot with a .17 at the gophers and small varmints on the ranch and the target rifles are inappropriate for such field use.
Gun ownership in Europe, although not comparable to the US, is still fairly high - 20 or 30 weapons per 100 citizens.
Switzerland is a special case - many of the citizens are considered part of the Swiss militia and thus allowed to have military weapons, including fully automatic weapons - in their house. Something like 30% of household have weapons. Switzerland also has an extremely low violent crime rate - something that the anti-gun crowd that argues more guns mean more crime has yet to come to terms with.
They also have to keep those weapons in safes, and their ammunition is inventoried by the .gov to make sure they are not shooting them "on their own", etc. etc. etc.
'Murica is still quite free, comparatively. Glad I live here, and have the chance I have to own some really cool stuff. Here I am just shooting groups like a boring Fudd.
They also have to keep those weapons in safes, and their ammunition is inventoried by the .gov to make sure they are not shooting them "on their own", etc. etc. etc.
I understood the government ammunition is centrally stored but they can still buy non-government ammunition from private dealers for their SiG550s and fire it, for all intents, whenever they want. The sport of target shooting is also huge in Switz.
I understood the government ammunition is centrally stored but they can still buy non-government ammunition from private dealers for their SiG550s and fire it, for all intents, whenever they want. The sport of target shooting is also huge in Switz.
Members of the army keeep a special package of government-issue ammo that they must reserve for use under government orders. However, the Swiss may buy and shoot other ammo with no restrictions. Swiss gun shows aren't much different from American gun shows. Hillary Clinton would hate them.
Members of the army keeep a special package of government-issue ammo that they must reserve for use under government orders. However, the Swiss may buy and shoot other ammo with no restrictions. Swiss gun shows aren't much different from American gun shows. Hillary Clinton would hate them.
Yup! Ammo in Switzerland verified as not restricted, at least per below thread in AR15 forum, with an interesting perspective from a Swiss citizen:
Originally Posted By m1garand__man:
"I've heard that there are restrictions on keeping ammo in your home in switzerland. Is that true? Are there any restrictions on types and quantities that one can have in thier home?"
Answer by swiss poster:
"No kind of restriction exept that you cannot buy hollow point and expansion bullet cartridges for handguns anymore (yeah, you wouldnt want to hurt a home jacker too bad..) . You can still have and use what you already have, though . You can stockpile as much ammo as your wallet can afford, and there are no special storage conditions. (if you can buy a gun, you can buy ammo, that's the rule). What is happening, is that every man (50% actually...) here is a militian, and has all his equipment, including the SiG550 at home.. We also had, for many years now, a military sealed ammo box (50 rounds) called "munition de poche" (pocket ammo) that was meant to be used in case of conflict, to allow the soldier to join his unit from his civil life location, with a loaded gun for self defense..After a couple of stupid retards used it (the ammo in their sealed box) to kill innocent bystanders (we're talking about 2 or 3 death over more than 10 years), the army had to take those ammo box back, to make anti gunners and leftiests happy..."
and in same thread by swiss poster:
"One is allowed to shoot it whenever he wants, if he does it legally (I mean, not in his backyard, it's a too small country for that, at least in my canton)."
Again by swiss poster in regards to limiting gun rights in Switzerland, seems they have to fight the good fight for gun rights as well:
"Well, the government doesnt want to... the leftiests and greens however... we will have a national vote in February, and the topic will be exactly this one.. putting all issued weapons in the arsenal, and not at home anymore... It's a direct attack to our gunrights, of course.. With the government supplying you a gun, the legislator cannot decently prevent you from owning guns on your own.. Should we loose the issued rifle, they would go after OUR guns...You must understand that I need to make one controlled shooting session every year, + 1 optionnal (tir en campagne) + 1 3 weeks military course every year... That would mean i'd need to go the the arsenal armory to pick my gun, and bring it back, 3 times a year.. wich is logistically insane. A militia Army comes with the need to keep guns at home, in my mind, and i hope we will vote according to that idea.."
That was from 2010. I understand the mentioned gun ban never ever passes, but it seems to come up every year in Swiz by the extreme left wing parties.
Members of the army keeep a special package of government-issue ammo that they must reserve for use under government orders. However, the Swiss may buy and shoot other ammo with no restrictions. Swiss gun shows aren't much different from American gun shows. Hillary Clinton would hate them.
TY, good to know!
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. You can stockpile as much ammo as your wallet can afford, and there are no special storage conditions. (if you can buy a gun, you can buy ammo, that's the rule). What is happening, is that every man (50% actually...) here is a militian, and has all his equipment, including the SiG550 at home.. We also had, for many years now, a military sealed ammo box (50 rounds) called "munition de poche" (pocket ammo) that was meant to be used in case of conflict, to allow the soldier to join his unit from his civil life location, with a loaded gun for self defense..After a couple of stupid retards used it (the ammo in their sealed box) to kill innocent bystanders (we're talking about 2 or 3 death over more than 10 years), the army had to take those ammo box back, to make anti gunners and leftiests happy..."
