/EGG/ - How to become hasguns in NL

How to get a gun in the Netherlands

To summarise Dutch firearms law:
In the beginning, on the first day, the Minister of Justice declared that you cannot have nice things and he put that into the Wet Wapens en Munitie (Law on Arms and Ammunition). People still found out how to have nice things, and so on the second day he made the Regeling Wapens en Munitie (Ruling on Arms and Ammunition). Now the police did not know how to read any of these sacred legal texts, so on the third day he made the Circulaire Wapens en Munitie (Circular letter on Arms en Ammunition). People still had fun, so on the fourth day he made the Besluit Wapens en Munitie (Decision on Arms and Ammunition).
On the fifth day* the Ministry was sued for violating the European Convention on Human Rights, they lost (lol) and now we can have some fun things again.

Buying and owning a gun in the Netherlands is not an easy process. As most problems do, this was caused by communists – or, to be more precise, the threat of a communist uprising in the early 1900s. Due to rising political tensions, the Dutch government created the first Vuurwapenwet (Firearms Law) in 1919, which was sort of revised along the way, most notably in 1965 and around 1997. The resulting current law is called the Wet Wapens en Munitie (Law on Arms and Ammunition), which dictates what you can (not much) and cannot (quite a lot) do with guns and ammo in the Netherlands. This document has been expanded upon by the Regeling, Circulaire en Besluit Wapens en Munitie (Ruling, Circular letter and Decision on Arms and Ammunition) which make for a legal framework that not a single person in the Netherlands completely understands. If someone says they understand Dutch gun law, they are lying. If you want to understand these laws: God help you and your soul while you look them up on wetten.overheid.nl.

Categories

As a result of these laws, we have four categories of weapons which could pose an increasing threat to society: free, civilian purpose, military purpose and strictly forbidden.
•	Free weapons (category 4) include knives (with a single cutting edge), swords, sabres, daggers, bayonets, crossbows, airguns and similar devices, also, anything that could be used to threaten or harm anyone, ever;
•	Civilian-grade weapons (category 3) are more dangerous and include firearms for sporting, hunting or collecting purposes as well as projectile-launching devices, alarm and starting handguns and throwing knives;
•	Military-grade weapons (category 2) include much more dangerous stuff like fully automatic firearms, weapons modified to increase concealability, weapons that don’t look like weapons, tasers, biological and chemical weaponry as well as flamethrowers and grenade launchers;
•	Strictly forbidden weapons (category 1) include… stiletto knives, butterfly knives, folding knives with two cutting edges (scary!), brass knuckles, ninja stars, ballistic knives, suppressors, arrows with a particularly sharp point, catapults (does not mention if that means the small handheld ones, or the big medieval ones) as well as any and all devices designated by the Minister of Justice as being particularly scary looking, including airsoft devices.

Do note that nuclear weapons are completely absent from our laws so you might get away with owning a recreational McNuke™ (this sentence is not legal advice).

Although the legal framework is a mess, you can still own guns in the Netherlands if you put in the effort, even full auto funs are possible if you put in some work. It all depends on the category of weapon. Dutch gun law mainly criminalises certain actions like possession, transporting, making, proofing and others. For possession of firearms (‘’voorhanden hebben’’), you would need a permit which exempts you from that part of the law. However, it usually only applies to a limited subset of actions: you because you can possess a gun, does not mean you can legally make one. Generally speaking, the ammunition for a certain firearm is as illegal as the firearm itself (same category) and if you have a permit for possession of a firearm it includes possession of the ammunition as well as reloading it (assuming you have a permit for owning explosives and/or gunpowder). All of the above depends on the category of firearm though, so let’s go through all of those in a somewhat irrational order.

How to own weapons

If you want to own a weapon from category 4 and you are an adult with sufficient disposable income: congratulations! You can own all of these weapons. Go into your local gunshop/bladeshop/whatever and buy whatever you want. Put it in a backpack or gun bag on the way home though, because openly carrying a category 4 weapon is a felony. Shooting an airgun or crossbow in your garden is perfectly legal as long as the neighbours don’t complain and the projectiles stay on your property.

If you want to own a weapon from category 1: those are dangerous man! Could poke someone’s eye out or something. For all the fancy knives you could get a collector’s permit (more about those later). Suppressors are right out for most people except those employed by the government, although the law is shifting for hunters and a certain group of traditional sports shooters have an exemption. If you have a particular attraction to orally satisfying male genitalia, you can get an airsoft permit from the police or by becoming a member of the airsoft fudds association (NABV). Please leave the premises if you do.

Now, what you really came here for were guns, right? Legally speaking the law forbids all possession of firearms: you can only get a permit for a gun (category 3, generally) and the ammo for it if you have a legal reason (‘’aannemelijk belang’’) for it. This legal reason generally consist of one of three causes:
•	Collecting
•	Hunting
•	Sports shooting

We will cover collecting under category 2, because the requirements are mostly the same. As for hunting: you need to do a hunter’s exam and prove that you have a piece of land you can hunt on. This exam is hilariously expensive (€4-5K last I checked) and requires a written examination (which a lot of people fail) as well as a shooting exam. The shooting exam consists of both rifle and shotgun and has quite strict standards, so people fail there, too. After that, you need to find a place to hunt. Since the Netherlands is very crowded, your best option is generally being very rich or going into a club of hunters which administers a certain area. With all that sorted you just need to fill in some paperwork declaring you are sane, need to have a decent gun safe, buy a gun suitable for hunting (without actually taking it home, leave it at the gun store) and then you can apply for a permit for said gun. Note that you can have a maximum of six guns, and there are limits to how much ammunition capacity they can have, what calibre they are, etc. Congratulations, you now own a gun.

The largest group of gun owners in the Netherlands are sports shooters. Arguably the easiest way to become a gun owner, this does take time. If you go to a shooting club and apply to become a member, there is a six month waiting period before you can officially become a member. After that, you need to have been a member for at least a year before you can apply for a gun permit: one gun at most, only .22LR handguns, manual repeating .22LR rifles or a 12 gauge shotgun for clay bird shooting. Note that you have to apply for the permit for a certain shooting discipline and the gun needs to match said discipline:  you don’t get a permit if you want to use a 12 gauge shotgun for bullseye pistol shooting. After the first year of gun ownership, you can own up to five guns, with more guns being allowed: all manual repeating centrefire rifles and handguns up to 9mm/.38. After the second permit year, you can still only own five guns, but you can own guns for every single discipline, including semi auto rifles. Generally speaking, the calibre limit is 11.5/.46mm for handguns and 8mm for rifles, although there are exemptions (dynamic shooting disciplines, mostly).

Military grade weapons (category 2) are only obtainable by civilians under a collector’s permit. If you want to become a collector, you need to apply to become a member for one of the approved collecting clubs, such as Edouard de Beaumont. As you can imagine, these clubs are filled with fudds and dislike new, young people intruding in their clubs, so be prepared to wait at least a year or two before you are admitted. You then have to write a collection plan, which limits your collection to a certain field, such as for example German WW2 guns or Dutch guns before 1920. You then apply for a collection permit and start out with at most semi auto rifles: it takes a year or two before you can apply for a full auto collection license. Shooting these collectibles is a legal gray area, although some people get away with it under the guise of ‘’experiencing history’’. Do what you must.

The Dutch gun market

If you want to buy a new gun, find your local gun shop on:
VVJS.nl

Most shops are a member of this national shooting store association. Don’t be afraid to shop around until you find a local gun store where people actually try to help you instead of ripping you off: you will be dependant on them for ammo, components, accessories and such, and there can be a big difference between good and bad shops here.
Due to hunters and sports shooters having no more than six or five weapons, respectively, people want to get rid of their old guns to buy the next new and shiny thing they desire. That might be a 40 year old .22 that would be perfect as a first gun, or an almost new .308 bolt action rifle going for cents on the euro: this is a buyer’s market. I have seen a Russian 1917 Maxim sell for less than €750,- because there was only one buyer with the right kind of permits! There really is no guide what weapons are a good or bad buy, it all depends on the availability, condition and price.
If you want to buy used, look around at your local club, there’s usually a ‘’for sale’’ board with some decent deals. Other places to buy used guns are:

vuurwapens.net
vuurwapenadvertenties.nl
wapenadvertenties.nl

One notable exception to the general prohibition of firearms is antiques: any firearm made before 1870, and any black powder firearm (except revolvers) made before 1945 are exempt and can be freely traded. As you can imagine, these guns are generally overvalued in the market because they don’t count towards the five or six gun maximum and you don’t need a permit to trade them either.

Be sure to join the /egg/ Telegram channel, because these four pages only really cover a small fraction of Dutch gun ownership and there are native Dutch speakers that can help. Maybe.


*Actually 2013, look up the Bunker-arrest if you’re into lengthy legal texts and government agencies getting BTFO.