I've noticed we have a couple guys from Europe and elsewhere posting here. I was wondering if they wouldn't mind posting the guns laws in their country here, and what the restrictions on us US guys from bringing our own firearms their?

Hello,

I actually did put the whole lot here but the posting is on the 'rifles, lowers, uppers etc.' forum. I told about Finnish gun laws and gun restrictions.

Briefly, there no gun restriction in Finland apart from size restrictions(rifles: 16" barrel & 33" overall). You can always get the Finnish 'class III firearms license' if you want to buy a weapon that does not comply with regulations. For example my LE M4A1 is considered as "class 3" weapon in Finland and on the other hand a standard issue M16A2 is considered as 'ordinary rifle', size matters :)

Sound Silencers as well as flash hiders, bayo lugs, hi-cap mags etc. are all available to anyone without a special permit. Basically you can even sell silencers in a local K-mart.  

Feel free to ask anything. All questions are appreciated.

Regards,
Petri

What are handgun laws like in Finland?

Raven,

The Handgun laws in Finland are quite simple. Any pistol or revolver, rimfire or centerfire must meet the minimum size requirements, which are 130mm x 170mm. This law sucks because you cannot get the compact & carry models. If you have a silencer attached it doesn't count for lenght. So the gun is measured without a magazine, aftermarket grips, possible sound silencer and so on. If it's smaller than 130mmX170mm then it's illegal and considered as 'pocket gun' One cannot have a permit for a 'pocket gun' in Finland, excluding gov't & LE personel.

Regards,
Petri

[pistol]

Terve flying Suomi, Where do you live? I will be coming over there again next year. I will be in Salo for about a week.

I'll chime in and give you the Swedish gun laws, or at least the way they were when I got my firearms:

In Sweden there are two different types of firearms license - hunting and competition. To own a firearm you must have one of these licenses (you can have both, but not for the same firearm).

To get a firearms license for hunting you must take a Hunters' Education course, which is administered by the Swedish Hunting Association. The Hunters' Ed course is basically a 2 credit class which covers everything from what different sparrows look like to how to take care of land so that game will be safe from other predators and/or stay/return to the area for the hunting season.
Traps, rifles, ammo, etc is also covered, as is laws and regulations. There are two written tests, one covering the basic knowledge for hunting, and one for hunting big game (which is referred to as "High Game" in Sweden). After completing the basic knowledge test you can opt to skip the big game test and go straight for the firearms proficiency tests.
The firearms proficiency tests are quite simple:
You take a shotgun (loaded with dummy rounds)with you and walk down a path in the forest, along the path there are a couple of obsticles. You must handle your firearm in a safe manner as you cross the obsticles. The you come to a small field where the instructor will pull up some targets, depending on the distance to the target you shoulder the shotgun if you would shoot, and tell the instructor if you wouldn't. This test is to show your ability to judge distance, and whether or not you would be able to kill the game or just wound it.
You then show the instuctor how to empty a bolt action rifle in a safe manner.
After this you will go to the range and shoot 5 rounds with any centerfire rifle on a standard 5-ring target for grouping at 50 meters. The final "basic" test is to shoot 3 out 6 clay pigeons with a shotgun of your choice. And that's it.
For the big game test you have the addition of shooting at a moving elk target at 100 meters. You must use a rifle with an appropriate caliber for moose, you can't show up with a 22LR.
I don't remember how many shots you had to get into the kill zone, but I think it was at 25 out of 30 or something along those lines.

To be continued....

Bring your firearm to Denmark and you will most likely go to prison.

Danish gun laws are very restictive.  Shotguns and rifles are fine for hunting, but rifled long guns do require a permit that I think has to be renewed every year (and costs $$).

Handguns are a whole different kettle of fish.  Handgun permits are only issued if you are a current AND ACTIVE member of a shooting club.  If you stop going shooting regularly at the club, your permit will be revoked and your gun impounded by the police until your permit is reactivated.  YOU cannot apply for a handgun permit, only a shooting club can sponsor your application to the police.  In addition, there are other restictions - for example, there is a cap on the number of 9mm handgun permits issues country-wide.  I think the number is 360 (in a country of roughly 5 million people).

Than again - Denmark has ridiculously low crime, an extremely low murder rate, and virtually no firearms-related crimes.

Also, in Denmark, the Home Guard (re National Guard) keeps their weapons at home - that would be full auto G-3s, belt-fed MG-3s, etc with ammo.  Similarly, all army officers are required to keep their sidearms and ammo at home.

Nobody in Denmark really has a problem with how the system works, and the violent criminals who DO have a few guns generally use them to kill one another (Hell's Angels vs. Banditos gangs), so it's not relaly a problem.  People there do not fear the government, because it is a true representational parliamentary democracy, adn answers to the people.

Heh heh, is that a Danish idiom? I like it.

Once you passed the hunters ed course you will be able to apply for a hunting permit. With the permit in hand you go to your local police office to apply for a firearms license. The form will ask you why you need the firearm (hunting or competition), where and how it will be kept, what type of firearm it is etc etc. You hand your application in with a copy of your hunting permit and $40 (if it's your first firearm), and usually within 2 weeks you get the answer back. You cannot buy a firearm until you have received your license. All firearms must be kept in safes. The safe cannot be free-standing unless it weighs more than 150 kilos.
That's how you get a hunting rifle in Sweden.

Silencers are allowed with special permits (VERY hard to get). Shotguns can only hold 3 rounds for hunting, and for centerfire rifles there are only 7 different semi-automatic rifles that are allowed for hunting. The AR15 is not one of them (fixed magazine only). Semi-automatic rimfire rifles (such as the Ruger 10/22) are illegal. You cannot have multiple rifles in the same caliber unless you have a very good reason (one for hunting, one for competition etc.)

For competition (and this is where handguns fit in) you have to be active in a shooting club. You must have participated in competitions and you must show proficiency with the basic caliber. For handguns the basic caliber would be 22LR. After you have been active in a club for a minimum of 6 months, and your markmanship level is up to par your instructor will write a letter of recommendation that you will take to the local police department. The process is the same as for the hunting rifles/shotguns. However, the first handgun must be a 22LR. Once you have owned a 22 for a year, and continued your participation in competitions etc., you can apply for a large caliber handgun. A large caliber handgun is any caliber larger than 32 that is not a magnum. Magnum calibers are classified as just that - magnums. There are no real size requirements for the handguns, however, revolvers must be at least 6-shot, otherwise they cannot be used in competitions.

When it comes to competition rifles I belive the regs are the same, but I'm not sure - I haven't dealt with that area.

Dude, I thought that was an american expression. [:D]

A Danish expression might be "Handguns are a whole other kind of meatball in the soup" - most of these things translate really badly.

This is also the case in Sweden. Maybe not the MG-3s, but the G3s (known as the AK4 in Sweden) the FNC (known as the AK5) and Glock 17s.

Hey skullworks, this question is related to a thread started today about suicide.

A study said that greater handgun availability results in higher rates of suicide in the US.

But correct me if I'm wrong, the countries with the highest rate of suicide per capita are Japan and Sweden.  Both have extremely tough handgun laws.

Hound,

I live in Helsinki or more like in Espoo. Anyway welcome to Finland! You're invited to my local range as well in case you stop by in Helsinki :)

Regards,
Petri

drool...

I haven't seen the study, but I think they are somewhat accurate. But let me explain.
If you are suicidal a firearm is a fast and efficient way to take care of the situation. Slicing your wrists, hanging, etc includes a certain amount of pain, which can act as a deterrant. A firearm is instantaneous (not saying that you can't screw up with firearms - it happens). Also, if someone tries to commit suicide with pills etc it takes longer to die, so the chance of discovery is greater, which in turn means that people are saved. You don't have that with handguns. So it would be more accurate to say that the presence of handguns increase the "success rate" of suicides.
In my opinion handguns do not increas the rate of suicide attempts. This is important. A suicide is only a suicide if it was succesfull. Someone who tried to commit suicide but failed (for whatever reason) will not be included in the statistics. And since handguns are proven to have a higher rate of success, obviously they will have a higher rate of representation in the statistics. Now, I don't know if handguns are the leading implement for suicides in the U.S., so I won't address that part of it.

It's interesting to note that studies often say that handguns are the leading implement for suicide amongst WASP males. Okay. So? What they use to kill themselves is completely beside the point. The question they should address is WHY WASP males is such a high risk group for suicide?

The perception that Sweden has a high rate of suicide is a common misconception in the U.S., I think it stems from you guys seeing Ingmar Bergman's movies and just making the logical leap that Swedes must be extremely depressed and suicidal. I've never seen any numbers backing this up, but I only heard about three suicides when I grew up - a friends dad, someone who lived in the same subdivision as me, and some kid at my highschool. That's it.

Here's a fairly current list of suicide rates per country from the World Health Organization: [url]http://www5.who.int/mental_health/main.cfm?p=0000000149[/url]
As far as I could see Lithuania, Latvia, The Russian Federation, and Estonia are the leaders of the pack with up to 92 suicides per 100,000. Japan comes in with a modest 50, and Sweden has 29. The U.S. has 23. There are plenty of countries that outdo Sweden.

OK. Sweden's rates aren't extraordinary. I remember reading about Sweden's high rates of suicide and how strange that seemed to me, as Swedes seem to have a lot going for them as a society. I can understand the high rate in Japan, where there's a longstanding tradition of suicide in the face of shame or dishonor. The Baltic countries' rates make sense, with alcoholism and bad economic prospects.