Gun collecting in Norway and the law

Visaman · November 13, 2008, 06:55 PM

Norway had rather restrictive gun laws in the 60's and 70's compared to other countries. These days the restrictive laws Norway then enforced actually seem rather liberal compared to most European countries. Nevertheless, with some items collecting in Norway tends to be very difficult. The details might be somewhat inaccurate, but the following provides a general picture of gun collecting in Norway today:

Rifles and other long-guns older than 1884 are completely unregulated. You may have as many as you like. The same goes for pistols and revolvers older than 1871. Shotguns were not licensed in Norway until some ten years ago and I must admit to not knowing if you now should get a license for your older shotgun.

For guns newer than the above mentioned, one needs a license from the police unless "due to design or condition should not be regarded as a firearm". You've heard about the guy selling elastic band by the meter? There has been some discussion in regards to this over the years!

As non-collector one has to "prove" a need for the gun - as a target shooter, hunter or whatever - just about anything except self defence! You'd never get a legal gun for self defence in Norway - no way - only the bad guys should have guns for firing at people! As a non-collector you can have only one gun of each kind and you will have to "prove" a continous need for every one.

As a collector things are a lot easier, except that you probably never will be allowed to fire your guns... Within your approved field of collection, you can have more or less as many licensed guns as you'd like - when you are approved as a collector, that is. There are no really fixed rules in regards to who will be approved, but you should have a minimum of five guns within your field before applying. If you are planning to collect WW2 vintage, that can be fairly tricky. You cannot buy the five guns needed for being approved before you have been approved.....

Fully automatic guns are (almost) a great big "NO" in Norway to day - even for serious collectors with specialised collections within the field. There are some possible exceprions, but they are just about purely theoretical in practice.

Storage is getting to be an important issue here in Norway and regulations are being enforced on the public (Interestingly, similar regulations do not apply to the Army, The Army can have unattended depots with fully automatic firearms in the middle of nowhere secured with a padlock - and that is ok).

We, the public, should have all licensed pistols and revolvers locked away in an approved secure arms cabinet. We may have as many as four rifles in wall hangers if securely locked to a rack, - from then on it is the arms cabinet for the long-guns as well. If you have more than 25 licensed guns, you need an approved secure gun room. And, depending on what you have there, you might also have a secure arms cabinet in the gun room as a double safety.

I'm making a bit of fun of the regulations here, although really I find them to be rather sensible. The silly thing is that ex-Army personnel have ten-thousands of fully automatic rifles in their homes with no regulations for security at all, and that army depots with guns and ammunition are being burgled "all the time".

November 13, 2008, 06:55 PM	#1
Visaman Senior Member Join Date: November 10, 2008 Location: Norway Posts: 302	Gun collecting in Norway and the law Norway had rather restrictive gun laws in the 60's and 70's compared to other countries. These days the restrictive laws Norway then enforced actually seem rather liberal compared to most European countries. Nevertheless, with some items collecting in Norway tends to be very difficult. The details might be somewhat inaccurate, but the following provides a general picture of gun collecting in Norway today: Rifles and other long-guns older than 1884 are completely unregulated. You may have as many as you like. The same goes for pistols and revolvers older than 1871. Shotguns were not licensed in Norway until some ten years ago and I must admit to not knowing if you now should get a license for your older shotgun. For guns newer than the above mentioned, one needs a license from the police unless "due to design or condition should not be regarded as a firearm". You've heard about the guy selling elastic band by the meter? There has been some discussion in regards to this over the years! As non-collector one has to "prove" a need for the gun - as a target shooter, hunter or whatever - just about anything except self defence! You'd never get a legal gun for self defence in Norway - no way - only the bad guys should have guns for firing at people! As a non-collector you can have only one gun of each kind and you will have to "prove" a continous need for every one. As a collector things are a lot easier, except that you probably never will be allowed to fire your guns... Within your approved field of collection, you can have more or less as many licensed guns as you'd like - when you are approved as a collector, that is. There are no really fixed rules in regards to who will be approved, but you should have a minimum of five guns within your field before applying. If you are planning to collect WW2 vintage, that can be fairly tricky. You cannot buy the five guns needed for being approved before you have been approved..... Fully automatic guns are (almost) a great big "NO" in Norway to day - even for serious collectors with specialised collections within the field. There are some possible exceprions, but they are just about purely theoretical in practice. Storage is getting to be an important issue here in Norway and regulations are being enforced on the public (Interestingly, similar regulations do not apply to the Army, The Army can have unattended depots with fully automatic firearms in the middle of nowhere secured with a padlock - and that is ok). We, the public, should have all licensed pistols and revolvers locked away in an approved secure arms cabinet. We may have as many as four rifles in wall hangers if securely locked to a rack, - from then on it is the arms cabinet for the long-guns as well. If you have more than 25 licensed guns, you need an approved secure gun room. And, depending on what you have there, you might also have a secure arms cabinet in the gun room as a double safety. I'm making a bit of fun of the regulations here, although really I find them to be rather sensible. The silly thing is that ex-Army personnel have ten-thousands of fully automatic rifles in their homes with no regulations for security at all, and that army depots with guns and ammunition are being burgled "all the time".