Air Powered rifles

[bababooey]

Hi. Living in the USA, responsible citizens can lawfully own firearms since it is considered a right. I am somewhat aware that countries, like the UK, do not extend that right (or privilege, depending on one's viewpoint). What types of firearms can people from other nation's own for personal use?

The reason I ask is the thread about "BB guns" and a UK member was asking what kind of air rifle was best to shoot a bird. IMO, birds should not be shot, but that is not the point of this thread. Rather, I'd like to know if a person outside the USA is not able to own a firearm, what can they own within their respective countries. Are their firearms clubs available in the UK, for example, where a person can experience shooting a firearm without owning one?

Potentially, this thread could cover those air rifles that can be legally owned and pics can be posted.
Thanks in advance.

BTW, if this is question has been addressed in previous posts or is a dumb question, mod's, please disregard and delete.

[theholeinthedonut]

I can own more or less a anything I fancy when it comes to firearms, a friend of mine even has a fullly functional WW2 vintage M2A1 105 mm Howitzer in his garden.

[1984]

Air rifles are not a problem; for actual firearms you'll need to have a shooting range membership for at least one year (and visit regularly), and a clean record before you can apply to purchase your own weapons.

[Britishhawk]

I have two air rifles. I don't use them anymore as we moved house recently and live in a Cul-de-sac (the bang echoes and we had a complaint from the neighbour) However, I did purchase a supressor but that didnt make any difference.

Shooting birds is fine so long as they're not protected. Pigeons are a good target, although once me and my friends hit one and the pellet just seemed to bounce off the breast.

[bababooey]

We here in the states, we take it for granted gun ownership. Though I am not a gun "fanatic", I couldn't imagine not having that right. I ask because my wife and I took a Med cruise and I got to talking with a British police man and an Aussie. Both fine gents. When I brought up firearms, they both had such opposite viewpoints on the issue. The Brit was against firearms of all kinds, even for the police, where the Aussie sounded more American in his view of guns. I was shocked to learn that the Brit had never fired a gun and was hostile to the idea of private citizens owning such things. I suppose it is what one is used to and how one is brought up to believe.

[armored_diplomacy]

In Argentina:

:grin:

To legaly buy and posses a firearm, you must:
- To be + 18
- To become a Legitime User "Legítimo Usuario" in one of its two versions: civil user, or conditional civil user.

Legítime User means that you have proved that you are both phisical and psicological fit to own & use a firearm, plus a couple of extra data, such as that you have legal incomes and the address where guns will be stored (basically, your home). "civil user" is a limited condition that allows you to buy and posses .22lr or .32 and simple / pump action shotguns. "conditional civil user" is for all that and and the rest of the guns you can legally buy. In fact, requirements are almost the same, son "civil user" is rarely requested nowadays.

- To have a possession card for your firearm ("tarjeta de tenencia"). There they put your gun serial and your personal data. It´s a sort of "gun ID".

- To have a consume card for ammo ("tarjeta de consumo"): there, depending on the ammo, there´s a limit of ammo you can have per year. This is just a stupid taxation rule, ´casue if my card is already filled, I simply order another (having to pay a fee, of course). You can´t have significant undeclared ammo, under risk of criminal prosecution.

If you are a conditional civil user, you can buy:
- handguns (pistols and revolvers) or any caliber (from .22 to 357).
- Shotguns of any kind & type (no automatic allowed)
- semi-automatic .22lr carbines
- pump or level action carbines, such as 44.40, etc
- bolt action rifles (.223, .308, etc)

There´s no limit of guns, but if you have more than 10 there are extra requirements. Black powder guns are no required to be registered.

You can´t buy :
- semi-auto carbines superior to +22ls (d*mnit, I want an AR-15 :cantbeli:). FALs were produced in a semi-auto an legaly sold here, but after a stupid decree, you can´t buy anything like that anymore.
- automatic guns
- anything like 12,7 mm or stuff like that.

To buy and posses an air gun, you must:
- Be +18

No registration / Legitime User status is required here. Popular air rifles here are either air or gas guns, in 4.5mm or 5.5mm

[Britishhawk]

We here in the states, we take it for granted gun ownership. Though I am not a gun "fanatic", I couldn't imagine not having that right. I ask because my wife and I took a Med cruise and I got to talking with a British police man and an Aussie. Both fine gents. When I brought up firearms, they both had such opposite viewpoints on the issue. The Brit was against firearms of all kinds, even for the police, where the Aussie sounded more American in his view of guns. I was shocked to learn that the Brit had never fired a gun and was hostile to the idea of private citizens owning such things. I suppose it is what one is used to and how one is brought up to believe.

I think the British mans view is probably shared by most Brits, excluding those who have served in the forces. Most Brits have never held.. let alone seen a firearm. Why would they? The closest most people come to owning a firearm is a spud-gun from their childhood.

Firearm related crime is relatively low in the UK, in part due to the fact weapons are illegal, therefore having every Policeman armed is overkill.. and in most part would probably lead to unnecessary deaths.

Sure I'd like to own an old Enfield or something similar but where would I use it? The nearest range to me is about 2 hours drive away. :|

[greendzflash]

I have two air rifles. I don't use them anymore as we moved house recently and live in a Cul-de-sac (the bang echoes and we had a complaint from the neighbour) However, I did purchase a supressor but that didnt make any difference.

Shooting birds is fine so long as they're not protected. Pigeons are a good target, although once me and my friends hit one and the pellet just seemed to bounce off the breast.

hehehe he had a level 3 plate insert.... ;)

[greendzflash]

I think the British mans view is probably shared by most Brits, excluding those who have served in the forces. Most Brits have never held.. let alone seen a firearm. Why would they? The closest most people come to owning a firearm is a spud-gun from their childhood.

Firearm related crime is relatively low in the UK, in part due to the fact weapons are illegal, therefore having every Policeman armed is overkill.. and in most part would probably lead to unnecessary deaths.

Sure I'd like to own an old Enfield or something similar but where would I use it? The nearest range to me is about 2 hours drive away. :|

yep. the fact the police arent armed is a reason why crimes where firearms are used is pretty low (at the moment). the probable reason for this is that the criminals dont need a weapon to get away but, if the police are carrying firearms all the time, the crims will want to be like for like.

[Dinges]

Here in SA you can buy an Air rifle/Pellet gun over the counter without a license. No problem ends right there.

Anything that uses a cartridge is available only with a license. Automatic firearms are illegal as are other firearms considered as military. And try to get a second handgun - won't happen.
That leaves handguns , bolt action rifles and shotguns.

To get a license you must pass a proficiency test , have no criminal reacord and be of sound mind.

That said it takes at least two years to get a license , if you are lucky.

[Straker]

Okay Great Britain and firearms in a very quick overview;
Note the rules in Northern Ireland are very different and I have little knowledge of them nor am I a lawyer.

Air Rifles under a certain force are freely avaliable and do not require any kind of permit etc. You can use these to shoot vermin (pigeons for example) on land which you own or on which you have the owners written permission. Over a certain force are section one firearms (see below).

Shotguns are also avaliable with a shotgun certificate avaliable from your police force. For these the onus is on the force to prove you are unsuitable (ie much like a shall issue CCW state in the US from my limited understanding). They cannot be semi automatic but pump actions with under a 4 round capacity are fine. Rifled barrels, slugs and larger capacity pump actions make a shotgun a section one firearm.

With rifles you require a firearms certificate again issued by the local police force. You have to prove you have a purpose for having a weapon (e.g. deer stalking or target shooting as a member of a club). No fully automatic, semi automatic in .22 only. You could and people do for example possess .50 calibre bolt action target rifles and use them on suitable ranges as part of a long range shooting club.

Pistols are heavily restricted, basically you need to either be a section 5 firearms dealer, olympic level target shooter or require one in very specific circumstances for the humane destruction of animals. Less than 50 section 5 permits have been issued to people in the last 5 years. They would also cover flame throwers, CS incapacitant sprays or semi automatic weapons depending on what variations were allowed for them.

From the statistics the number of legally held firearms compared to the rate of firearms crime is actually fairly irrelevant believe it or not. Certainly offences with handguns have increased a lot from when they were made section 5. Very, very few firearms offences are carried out with legally held weapons and a proportion of them are for technicalites. The exact percentage escapes me at the moment.

[bersaglieri]

I think the British mans view is probably shared by most Brits, excluding those who have served in the forces. Most Brits have never held.. let alone seen a firearm. Why would they? The closest most people come to owning a firearm is a spud-gun from their childhood.

Firearm related crime is relatively low in the UK, in part due to the fact weapons are illegal, therefore having every Policeman armed is overkill.. and in most part would probably lead to unnecessary deaths.

Sure I'd like to own an old Enfield or something similar but where would I use it? The nearest range to me is about 2 hours drive away. :|

Firearms related crime has increased a fairly large amount SINCE owning handguns and semiauto full bores was made illegal post Hungerford and Dunblane. It's is only in the last 20 years that people have become unaccustomed to ownership of firearms, they used to be pretty freely available with very little related crime. And if there were more legally owned firearms there would be more ranges and clubs!
We now have dramatically more armed police officers with even non firearms officers carrying weapons that are highly illegal if found in the hands of the public - taser,CS and batons. The government has used increasingly draconian laws to remove the right of the citizen to have any item which they could use to defend themselves and more and more innocuous items are prosecuted as offensive weaponry every year.

[Hauser]

Just to add a couple of points to Straker's post, you can in fact have semi auto shotguns in the UK and they are pretty comman (more comman than pumps from my experience, but I only shoot clays and not game). However, both semis and pumps are restricted to a 2 round magazine, allowing a total of 3 shots if you keep one in the chamber.

In the pistol field, black powder pistols are allowed (as in muzzle loading flintlocks up to percussion fired revolvers). With a standard FAC black powder cannot actually be used, so modern replacements such as Pyrodex must be used. This is due to black powder being classed as an explosive, and an explosives license required, which I believe is relatively easy to aquire, but puts lots of conditions on storage I believe.

Long barreled pistols are also legal, where the barrel is extended and/or a counterweight or arm brace added to the rear to make the weapon a minimum allowable length. These can range from single shot .22 all the way up to high caliber revolvers.

[bababooey]

Very interesting info, especially Argentina since I have family there. One uncle owns a pistol but he never uses it. He rather would talk of soccer then guns.

I would imagine if I were from outside the US, I would be rather frightened to visit the states with all the guns around. Add to that all the violent movies and shows Hollywood produces. I would think NYC or Detroit were a war zone, if I did not know better.

As I told the Brit, here in the US, it is so much a part of our culture that it is unthinkable to some that guns would be banned. So much so there is a powerful Washington lobby called the National Rifle Association (NRA) that prevents gun legislation. Every state has their own gun rights groups plus the NRA to do the same thing at a local level.

As a gun owner, I owned the military style guns when I was younger, but now, I have a Ruger .22 and .22 pistol for the occasional plinking. I have known guy's who buy guns worth thousands of dollars (One friend bought a SIG 556 last week). I have no fear of these people nor their expensive hobby. Some admire the workmanship, some love target shooting and matches, some want to exercise their gun rights, and some are Walter Mitty's who dream of taking out Bin Laden. Its all good.

I hope my friends overseas who come to visit find a shooting range and gun store nearby to enjoy the freedoms we here take for granted. You will find the vast majority of people who are into guns to be friendly, willing to talk to you and even let you fire their guns on the firing range.

[bababooey]

In Argentina:

:grin:

To legaly buy and posses a firearm, you must:
- To be + 18
- To become a Legitime User "Legítimo Usuario" in one of its two versions: civil user, or conditional civil user.

Legítime User means that you have proved that you are both phisical and psicological fit to own & use a firearm, plus a couple of extra data, such as that you have legal incomes and the address where guns will be stored (basically, your home). "civil user" is a limited condition that allows you to buy and posses .22lr or .32 and simple / pump action shotguns. "conditional civil user" is for all that and and the rest of the guns you can legally buy. In fact, requirements are almost the same, son "civil user" is rarely requested nowadays.

- To have a possession card for your firearm ("tarjeta de tenencia"). There they put your gun serial and your personal data. It´s a sort of "gun ID".

- To have a consume card for ammo ("tarjeta de consumo"): there, depending on the ammo, there´s a limit of ammo you can have per year. This is just a stupid taxation rule, ´casue if my card is already filled, I simply order another (having to pay a fee, of course). You can´t have significant undeclared ammo, under risk of criminal prosecution.

If you are a conditional civil user, you can buy:
- handguns (pistols and revolvers) or any caliber (from .22 to 357).
- Shotguns of any kind & type (no automatic allowed)
- semi-automatic .22lr carbines
- pump or level action carbines, such as 44.40, etc
- bolt action rifles (.223, .308, etc)

There´s no limit of guns, but if you have more than 10 there are extra requirements. Black powder guns are no required to be registered.

You can´t buy :
- semi-auto carbines superior to +22ls (d*mnit, I want an AR-15 :cantbeli:). FALs were produced in a semi-auto an legaly sold here, but after a stupid decree, you can´t buy anything like that anymore.
- automatic guns
- anything like 12,7 mm or stuff like that.

To buy and posses an air gun, you must:
- Be +18

No registration / Legitime User status is required here. Popular air rifles here are either air or gas guns, in 4.5mm or 5.5mm

Can you buy semi-auto .22's that look like assault rifles? We have such guns in the USA. Ruger makes an M16 in .22. There is an HK copy that is chambered in .22 as well.

I owned a Bersa .380 once. Made in Argentina, was inexpensive, but well made.

[heardluke]

Australian firearm laws regarding to ownership or use is different from state to state. I can only write about the state of New South Wales where I currently live. Like stated before by another post I am only writing on what I know, and what I have done to acquire and keep my firearm license. An individual needs a license/permit to own a firearm(s). 18+. Criminal/Mental Health Check. With a 'genuine reason' to have a such licence is needed, such as Target/Sport Shooting, Recreational/Vermin Control, Collecting ect. And then evidence of this reason with a club membership or letter from a landowner stating you have permission to shoot on his/her land, and there are also other reasons (http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/services/firearms/licences_and_genuine_reasons). There are also different categorizes of firearms with different level of control. Categorize A, B, C, D, R and H



Category A: Rimfire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimfire) rifles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifle) (not semi-automatic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-automatic_firearm)), shotguns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotguns) (not pump-action (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump-action) or semi-automatic), air rifles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_rifles).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paintball_markers)



Category B: Centrefire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrefire) rifles (not semi-automatic), muzzleloading (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzzleloader) firearms made after 1 January 1901.



Category C: Semi-automatic rimfire rifles holding 10 or fewer rounds and pump-action or semi-automatic shotguns holding 5 or fewer rounds. (Restricted: only primary producers, occupational shooters, collectors and some clay target shooters can own functional Category C firearms)



Category D: Semi-automatic centrefire rifles, pump-action/semi-automatic shotguns holding more than 5 rounds (functional Category D firearms are restricted to occupational shooters; collectors may own deactivated Category D firearms).[/URL]



Category H: [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handgun"]Handguns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Australia#cite_note-1) including air pistols, deactivated handguns and guns less than 65 cm long. Target shooters are limited to handguns of .38cal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.38) or less.

So after you wait 2 month's you get asked to go to the RTA ( Roads and Traffic Authority; which give our drivers licenses) and get your license. Then you have to send a 'Application of Acquire' to the 'Firearms registry'. For A,B the first permit takes 28days before it is issued, then postage time. +$30 dollors This is the permit you take to the gun store to get your firearm.
There are 'Safe Storage' requirments of firearms to, levels depending on which class of firearm you own. With fines, or jail sentences for failure.

[Straker]

As I told the Brit, here in the US, it is so much a part of our culture that it is unthinkable to some that guns would be banned. So much so there is a powerful Washington lobby called the National Rifle Association (NRA) that prevents gun legislation. Every state has their own gun rights groups plus the NRA to do the same thing at a local level.

We also have a National Rifle Association who run Bisley and try to represent firearms owners :roll:. Honestly from my point of view they are fairly useless and other bodies such as BASC http://www.basc.org.uk/ are much better at representing the whole shooting communities interests. Although I should point out I'm not a member.

[armored_diplomacy]

a) Can you buy semi-auto .22's that look like assault rifles? We have such guns in the USA. Ruger makes an M16 in .22. There is an HK copy that is chambered in .22 as well.

b) I owned a Bersa .380 once. Made in Argentina, was inexpensive, but well made.

Bababooey:

a) yes, there are no problem with that "resemblance". You can even find here (at a ridiculous high price) those cool .22LR carbines (eg.: Walter, GSG, etc.) that look like MP5´s, M-16´s or AK´s. Actually, the M-16 is on my wish list p-)

b) I own this: Bersa Thunder 9mm PRO

119280
- Quite convenient price (ARG $ 1900, that must be US $ 450)
- Very well made
- Pretty accurate
- magazine: 17 + 1 in chamber :-)

Another details:
* so far, there´s no limit in magazines capacity or number of magazines that you can buy.
* Once you buy the gun, you must wait 20/30 days until the Possession Card ir ready; after that you can take the gun home.

[Mablod]

It's pretty easy to own hunting weapons in Norway. You need the hunting test "jegerprøven", which consists of theory and practise and ends with a written exam(Answer 40 of 50 questions correctly within 50 minutes). After that you can apply for shotguns after the age of 16 and rifles after 18. You can also apply for a weapons license if you have been a member of a shooting club x amount of time. Don't know about the rules there.