Long gun ownership questions

[siben]

Yes oddball, a frikking fifty call, or as our local newspaper put it "an anti aircraft gun used on the turrets of tanks"

And here weapons are for hunting and sports. Not for shooting criminals. Keeping them loaded is punishable. Infact you have to store the ammo separably of the weapons and in a locked box at all time. Gunlocks are only needed when transporting. Magazines can never be in the rifle, and bolts have to be removed when possible. Having a ready to shoot weapon or a loaded magazine is enough to loose your licence.

[Oddball]

Yes oddball, a frikking fifty call, or as our local newspaper put it "an anti aircraft gun used on the turrets of tanks"

And here weapons are for hunting and sports. Not for shooting criminals. Keeping them loaded is punishable. Infact you have to store the ammo separably of the weapons and in a locked box at all time. Gunlocks are only needed when transporting. Magazines can never be in the rifle, and bolts have to be removed when possible. Having a ready to shoot weapon or a loaded magazine is enough to loose your licence.

Dude, I'm not going to lie, that's rediculous. It is also funny how the news media always extraggerates things to get more publicity and make it more dramatic. So your not able to defend yourself via firearms there? What about knives? hehe, or is that illegal, too?

Edit: Oh yeah, I just want to mention. I was browsing through a military surplus store, yesterday...as I was back on vacation and I was supprised to see a Boys AT rifle hanging from the ceiling. I have no picture, because I didn't have my camera, but nothing you see everyday.

Also, buy your automatic weapons here;
http://www.autoweapons.com/products/products.html

[siben]

Any knive with a blade longer then the width of your hand is an illegal weapon. Exceptions are when it is in your kitchen. It can be there and only there.

If it is for decoration it can not be sharp.

But its not like the cops will raid your house and steal your knives, it will only be like than when they are in your car or when you carry them around like a weapon. Or when you have like 20 swords and you act in an unstable way.

Tazers, pepper spray and even a stick longer then 30cm and thicker then your thumb are illegal weapons.

But once agian, a 12 year old playing in a field with some friends with a baseball bat will have no problems, if you are 20 and its 2 in the morning and in the middle of a town then you loose it and get fined for possession of an illegal weapon. All depends on how the police sees it in the situation.

Also, rare weapons that you turn in are not destroyed, they go to the army museum for preservation. And i have seen pictures of what they turn in most of the time it is some fugly hunting shotgun or a .22

[VonMudra]

That's lucky there.  Here, historical weapons that are turned into the police are required to be destroyed.  A few months ago, a lady turned in 'some old gun' her husband had kept, he had died recently, in exchange for a 100 dollar gift card for walmart.  It was a mint condition, all matching lugar worth between 1500 and 2000 dollars....

[Oddball]

That's lucky there.  Here, historical weapons that are turned into the police are required to be destroyed.  A few months ago, a lady turned in 'some old gun' her husband had kept, he had died recently, in exchange for a 100 dollar gift card for walmart.  It was a mint condition, all matching lugar worth between 1500 and 2000 dollars....

If not more, my great uncle had a luger, that he captured, unfortunately he sold it.. I don't know much about it...but intresting never-the-less.

[Flyboy1942]

Thanks for the answers everyone!

For California:

1)  You gotta be 18.

2)  You'll have to go to the gun shop and fill out the full background check forms, get fingerprinted, etc, as well as pay transfer taxes on top of the gun's actual cost.

3)  If you purchase from a private person or an online dealer, you'll have to find a FFL dealer who will take care of the transfer, then transfer the gun to you.

4)  Either way, there will be a 3 week long background check for your rifle before you can actually pick it up.

5)  You'll also be required to buy a gun lock, or give a statement of ownership of a gun locker.

Ouch. Thanks for giving a clear outline of the process though. Do they require registration if you buy the gun out of state? I might just buy one when Im in Colorado since they only require a two hour background check, though if it's a hassle to bring it back in to Cali I guess Ill just have to suck it up. I assume ammo can be bought and/or delivered to your door without issues?

@Oddball: Yeah Im pretty much asking about starting a collection; so where to buy guns and shoot them, as well as any tips on what to buy first. A guy I met at school has a collection of rifles and doesnt like the Mosin because of its sticky bolt for instance.

So if the police get called out cause someone happens to hear you, they dont really mind as long as you're using reasonable safety precautions? (well away from any houses/streets/people, shooting into an embankment or some kind of backing)

@CPS: I pretty much agree with the people already posting. I enjoy shooting because of the primal "oooh big noise and destuctive power!", the relaxing and focusing needed to shoot accurately and direct that power to a pinpoint at a distance, and also the connection with history that participating in such a time-honored past time creates. Especially when it's a gun with a history of its own.

@Siben: Im glad I dont live in Belgium. :| The knife thing is where it really gets me. I can see all the regulations on guns in a small European nation (though this is the level of hassle required to buy an automatic in the US), but damn they wont even let you carry knives? Funny story about the Ma Deuce though. I would have mounted it to my car and claimed it was for duck hunting.


The gun store near campus in Colorado has a nice looking SVT I keep thinking about. for $800 its not even too bad a price, though I dont think it has a magazine. Odd sites. Very cool gun...however I think I'm gonna go with a Mosin. The cost to buy is really low and the surplus ammo is second only to 7.62x39mm for rifle round price. Also, the design has been around for over a hundred years so the history behind it is considerable. Also the design is extremely simple so theres less to lose/mess up for a noob like me when stripping and cleaning the buildup from the dirty surplus ammo.

[VonMudra]

You actually could bring it in from out of state, as at that point it is private property.  No registration needed for long rifles.