Hello,

Just wondering what countries make it easy to buy suppressors.   I heard Norway treats it like buying a scope or a can of beer.  Is that true?

Yes it is true that you do not need a permit for a suppressor in Norway, and you do not need to register it anywhere because it is not considered a gunpart. In Sweden you do need a permit for one and you need to pay a fee when you apply.  Also, as I recall, they are not legal for 22.LR. Denmark have just recently legalized suppressors, but only for rifles, shotguns, and airguns, and only for target shooting (no hunting with suppressors as it is now, but hopefully this will change soon). Like in Sweden you have to pay a fee when you apply for a license, and in both countries they are registered with the police.

Finland is pretty lax with suppressors as well. No registration needed.

In Finland, our new gunlaw says that suppressor is gun part, so you can only buy and have suppressors if you are registered gun owner. Still, no registeration of suppressors.

And yet, there were no reason for legistrators to assimilate suppressors as gun parts, no crimes committed with suppressed weapons or whatsoever. Just teasing us while they can. However, things are pretty good for us gun owners in Finland, far from that what it used to be back in -05´ish but I think we´re living calm before the storm. The 2nd part of our new gun law is yet to come.

France was up to 2012

The Netherlands has stupid legislation that just bans 'suppressors for firearms' without defining anything.

The nett result is that something only is a suppressor if it has design features specific to a firearm like a nielson device or if it is actually mounted on a firearm or has gunpowder residue in it.

The effect of all this is that you can buy a can over the counter but are not allowed to mount it on your firearm (airguns are OK) We almost had them legalised recently but just at the last moment we had an idiot shoot up a shopping mall and everything was put on hold.

@ Dane can you provide any info on the recent legalisation in Denmark ?

Sure. Suppressors require a permit, and is issued by the police. It is then registered but you don't have to pay an application fee, as I wrote earlier . The permit is free. It is valid for 10 or 5 years, depending on if you bought it with your hunting license or through a shooting Club. No caliber restrictions, and the suppressor may be attached to all the guns you have that it will fit on. It is not locked to one gun.


You can only get permits for rifles, shotguns, and air guns. It doesn't matter if you have the guns on a Hunters license or a sport permit. No suppressors for handguns. As it is now, you are not allowed to go hunting with your suppressor attached, and you can only use it for target shooting. It is expected though, that it is just around the corner. Basically the new law just need the minister of the environments signature, but they are not known to work fast unfortunately.

You could get permits for suppressors here until 2000, when our gun Laws were tightened significantly due to some biker gang war that was going on at the time (because, as we all know, criminals obey the law....). The wording in the law never banned them outright, but said something along the lines of, "the police can issue a permit for suppressors, if you have a very good reason). It was a defacto ban, because no reason was good enough and they refused to issue new permits.

That is different that our system.

Original Ban in NL(1950's): Hunters though poachers would use them to steal game and started complaining about them.

Currently they are in Category I of the Dutch weapons law. The problem with that is that no licence can be given for those items, not even to the police or the police special forces (only army, museums and collectors).


The aim was to have them put in Cat III (license) which would be to the discretion of the local police O(and we have some pro police ) -> Dutch legal system would then go to work because as soon as one police district starts to issue people can sue for unequal treatment if the don't get issued in their own district.

IIRC, at least one Arfcomer in Italy found a loop-hole that allowed him to legally register ONE suppressor in Italy.  

After one or two gun owners managed to do this, the Italian government discovered it and immediately banned any future supressors.

I think the Arfcomer managed to buy a simple Umarex or Walther .22 supressor - but the pics he posted made it look extremely simple/crude (just a hollow tube with 3 or 4 flat washer-type baffles).

Anyone know about Spain or the Czech Republic?  How about Austria?

Italian gun laws are not always clear and for a few months there was a gray area regarding suppressors.. Long story short they're still banned.
Also keep in mind that we are not allowed to cut/thread the barrels of our weapons so even if we could own a suppressor there would be no way to install it since The number of guns imported with a threaded barrel from the factory is very limited and subsonic ammo are not available (you have to make your own hand loads)

Suppresors are regulated as strictly as MGs in Czechia ... well its easyer to get MG than suppresor as you can collect MGs..

Illegal last I read in Hungary but the sports association is putting a feeler into it and they want to propose a NFA style tax for suppressors in Hungary.

It makes the government happy.

Is it possible to own and shoot mg's there?

It is possible but... only for collecting purposes (no oc/cc) and you need exemption to buy one which is "may-issue" and pretty hard to get.