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I've asked this question a few times before and never gotten an answer approaching the thing I was asking about- are there any European gun owners on the motte, and if so, what's your experience dealing with the bureaucracy surrounding it?
Now, to be clear, what I am not asking is 'I live in x European country and here's a summary of the relevant laws from wikipedia, no I don't own guns and don't intend to, and nobody around me does or wants to either, but here's my opinion on these things'. What I'm asking is the experience of dealing with bureaucrats around this issue. Do they take for granted that gun ownership ought to be strongly discouraged and treat you with hostility, as blue states in the US are reputed to? Do they basically assume that if you're applying for a license you have a legitimate reason and are box-checking to make sure you aren't a criminal? Something in between? When I asked this when we were still on reddit I got an interesting comment about the politics of the situation in France, does someone have a commentary about actually going through the process and how government officials treat you? Is fingerprinting done through sympathetic government contractors as Texas CHL licenses use? If you had interview and character reference requirements what was that like? Is the license application processed faster or slower than the normal speed of bureaucracy in your country(Texas approves CHL licenses faster but actually prints them slower compared to most licenses with actual requirements).
Swedish gun owner:
I have never really had to deal with them. I filled in my application online and a few weeks later I got a license in the mail. I have bought four guns from a store and in those cases the staff in the store filled out the forms and I just waited a few min for them to do the paperwork before I signed it.
A lawyer I know got fired from the police where he was processing licenses due to him being a gun lover and asking too many questions. The lawyers who work there not at all knowledgeable about guns and mainly go after what the gun looks like. They are obsessed with guns looking old.
For my handguns I had to get my shooting club to sign my applications. They required me to spend a few weekends working on the range and use their position of power to get applicants to work for free. However, I genuinely like the officials and the gun club. They are a trustworthy, friendly and have excellent taste in hobbies. They would make the best neighbours. A big part of the Swedish sport shooting licensing system is built on the clubs filtering people and only co signing applications for people they want as members. This is an effective way to filter people who seem like trouble but have clean records. On the other hand, nepotism is rampant and there is little equality before the law as our system gives licenses based on personal relationships to gun club chairmen.
When I had more time I used to help train people to meet the gun club requirements for licenses and I helped people get gun licenses. I want more people to get guns.
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