Gun owners must be licensed.
Applicants need two referees, and police are allowed to
consult would-be gun owners' doctors.
Guns must be registered.
In the wake of the 1996 Dunblane
massacre the government passed a law severely restricting
handguns. Anyone in possession of a high caliber handgun
faces a maximum 10 years' imprisonment or a $7,285 fine,
or both.
FRANCE
Firearms must be registered, except
for sporting rifles.
A Sports Federation license is required
to request an ownership permit. Applicants must have no record
of criminal activity or mental illness. Applications approved
by the Federation must also be vetted by local police and municipal
officials. Permits must be renewed every three years.
Machine guns and automatic firearms
are prohibited without special authorization and are reserved
almost exclusively for military and police forces.
GERMANY
Gun owners must be licensed and firearms
registered.
Germany passed strict firearms regulation
in 1972, and a new bill tightening the law even further may soon
be passed by the upper house of parliament.
Those applying for a license must
be over 18 years old and, generally, a German resident for more
than three years.
Appplicants must prove their need
to possess a gun, technical proficiency, knowledge of firearms
and physical fitness.
Fully automatic weapons are banned.
ITALY
Gun owners must be licensed and firearms
registered.
Gun owners must be over 18, undergo
psychological and physical tests and have a clean police record.
Licenses must be renewed each year.
No one may own more than three guns.
NETHERLANDS
Gun owners must be licensed. Applicants
must be over 18 years old and a gun club member for at least a
year. Applications are approved by police, and licenses must be
renewed annually. Firearms must be registered.
Automatic and semi-automatic weapons
are banned.
SPAIN
Gun owners must be licensed and undergo
strict medical and psychological tests. No one is permitted to
own more than six hunting rifles and one handgun.
Firearms must be registered and inspected
annually.
Machine guns and submachine guns are
banned, as are imitation pistols.
SWITZERLAND
Gun owners must be licensed and firearms
registered.
Tighter regulation was introduced in 1999
— gun owners now require a permit. Applicants must prove
they need a gun and pass an exam on their theoretical and practical
knowledge of gun use.
Members of the Swiss military are required
to keep their weapons at home.
Hunting and sporting rifles can be purchased
without a permit and transported freely within the country, though
permits are required to transport other guns.
EUROPEAN UNION
The Schengen Agreement, which came into
force in 1985, proposed harmonizing the acquisition, possession
and sale of firearms across the signatory countries. These provisions
have been overtaken by a European Union directive that sets out
minimum standards for gun registration, including a "European
firearm card" that any gun-owner must have on hand when transporting
a weapon from one E.U. member state to another.
UNITED STATES
Gun control is legislated and enforced at
both the federal and state levels, resulting in a complex, often
contradictory body of regulations. Some states severely restrict
gun ownership, while others let people carry concealed firearms.
Federal law severly restricts the use and purchase of fully automatic
weapons. Some Americans think the U.S. Constitution contains a
right to own guns, but legal scholars generally disagree.
