4 ms·

Body armor, helmets and any sort of protective gear is legal in most parts of world, and I would bet any EU state (and in case of my EU country I can buy an AR-

Body armor, helmets and any sort of protective gear is legal in most parts of world, and I would bet any EU state (and in case of my EU country I can buy an AR-15 or any sort of semi-automatic weapon).

libertine 6y ago
Such protective equipment might be legal in most parts of the world, but they have a small market - the ad in the article is selling it like any regular product... literally they say "The survival gear that you are missing!", like it's some pillow being sold for a good night sleep. It's just odd. >I would bet any EU state (and in case of my EU country I can buy an AR-15 or any sort of semi-automatic weapon) Well in the case of my EU country we can't buy AR-15 or any semi-automatic rifle. The weapons owned here are mostly for hunting, not for sports/self defense.
- Daniel_sk 6y ago
  Survival / military e-shops are quite popular in EU, although they mostly target people that play airsoft, do reenactment, survival, bushcraft and so on. Preparing for a coup or for protection against the government is not a standard target group in Europe :-). In Slovakia and Czech republic you can own basically any short or long weapon and any caliber as long as it's not full-auto. But you can of course only bring it to an official shooting range or match. Owning a weapon for self defense is possible for regular citizen and you can carry it with you (only concealed), but only for short weapons (pistols, revolvers). But it's not a constitutional right, it's a privilege and you have to meet certain condition. It's a longer topic. But I wanted to say that even though we have a lot of weapons, the gun crime rate is extremely low. Maybe that's also because every gun is registered, you have to take all the exams (medical, psychological, background check, weapon law test) and so on... It's also forbidden to bring a weapon (even if concealed) to a protest, your weapon license would be taken and say good bye to your guns. Weapons in hands of citizen doesn't equal to gun crime (also check Switzerland), but I am also not a proponent of constitutional right for everyone to carry a weapon. So it's maybe similar to social networks - they can become a danger if they are not regulated (same as weapons, if they are unregulated and freely available).
- emilfihlman 6y ago
  Could you say what country? Because I might even bet that yes, you most definitely can buy an AR15 or any semiautomatic rifle just fine.
  - libertine 6y ago
    Ah yes, I'm from Portugal!
    - emilfihlman 6y ago
      Yes, you can buy AR15s and other semiautomatic rifles in Portugal. Most of Europe allows sports shooting, for example (from the top of my hear what I know for sure): Finland Sweden Norway Estonia Czech Republic Poland Germany France Italy Switzerland Austria Spain And I haven't even put research into the rest of the countries
      - libertine 6y ago
        You can not buy semiautomatic rifles in Portugal, even if you are a collector I think but for that you might need to have some sort of special requirement. These are the types of licences we have: http://armas.mai-gov.info/obtencao-de-licencas/ http://armas.mai-gov.info/obtencao-de-licencas/ Now you can buy weapons of the same caliber, for hunting (but you need hunting licensing). Edit: Ok I need to clarify this. Because we have a different name for specific weapons. Here we can sell semiautomatic rifles (we call them "carabinas", I didn't label them as rifles so my bad), for hunting (a specific class, for boars, deer, etc). The thing is every weapon that's imported in Portugal gets and inspection and a classification if it's a military weapon or not. An AR15 is considered a military grade weapon by our government standards. So yes, you can buy some specific models of semiautomatic rifles (for hunting), but you can't buy military grade semiautomatic rifles. You can't buy an AR15.
        jakearmitage 6y ago
        I know the argument here has been towards being able to buy or not a specific platform (AR-15), but I would like to address this: > So yes, you can buy some specific models of semiautomatic rifles (for hunting), but you can't buy military grade semiautomatic rifles The semi-automatic rifles that you can buy in Portugal include the Remington 700 and the Thompson Performance Center T/C. Both can come chambered in .308 Win or 6.5 Creedmoor. Those cartridges have an immense stopping power and are significantly more powerful than the usual .223/5.56 you see in the AR-15 platform. Looking at hunting stores from Portugal, you can easily see those two rifles with 5 or 10 round magazines, same limits as the AR-15 in California. The Remington 700 has been widely used by the military all over the world, including the US. The M24 sniper rifle is the Remington 700, but with a heavier barrel (in order to use .300 Win which the US Marine Corps preferred). So, why is in your opinion the AR-15 platform "military grade", and the hunting rifles available in Portugal not? Knowing that both platforms have been used by the military in combat situations, and knowing the hunting platforms usually have much more powerful cartridges?

libertine 6y ago

Such protective equipment might be legal in most parts of the world, but they have a small market - the ad in the article is selling it like any regular product... literally they say "The survival gear that you are missing!", like it's some pillow being sold for a good night sleep. It's just odd. >I would bet any EU state (and in case of my EU country I can buy an AR-15 or any sort of semi-automatic weapon) Well in the case of my EU country we can't buy AR-15 or any semi-automatic rifle. The weapons owned here are mostly for hunting, not for sports/self defense.

Daniel_sk 6y ago
Survival / military e-shops are quite popular in EU, although they mostly target people that play airsoft, do reenactment, survival, bushcraft and so on. Preparing for a coup or for protection against the government is not a standard target group in Europe :-). In Slovakia and Czech republic you can own basically any short or long weapon and any caliber as long as it's not full-auto. But you can of course only bring it to an official shooting range or match. Owning a weapon for self defense is possible for regular citizen and you can carry it with you (only concealed), but only for short weapons (pistols, revolvers). But it's not a constitutional right, it's a privilege and you have to meet certain condition. It's a longer topic. But I wanted to say that even though we have a lot of weapons, the gun crime rate is extremely low. Maybe that's also because every gun is registered, you have to take all the exams (medical, psychological, background check, weapon law test) and so on... It's also forbidden to bring a weapon (even if concealed) to a protest, your weapon license would be taken and say good bye to your guns. Weapons in hands of citizen doesn't equal to gun crime (also check Switzerland), but I am also not a proponent of constitutional right for everyone to carry a weapon. So it's maybe similar to social networks - they can become a danger if they are not regulated (same as weapons, if they are unregulated and freely available).
emilfihlman 6y ago
Could you say what country? Because I might even bet that yes, you most definitely can buy an AR15 or any semiautomatic rifle just fine.
- libertine 6y ago
  Ah yes, I'm from Portugal!
  - emilfihlman 6y ago
    Yes, you can buy AR15s and other semiautomatic rifles in Portugal. Most of Europe allows sports shooting, for example (from the top of my hear what I know for sure): Finland Sweden Norway Estonia Czech Republic Poland Germany France Italy Switzerland Austria Spain And I haven't even put research into the rest of the countries
    - libertine 6y ago
      You can not buy semiautomatic rifles in Portugal, even if you are a collector I think but for that you might need to have some sort of special requirement. These are the types of licences we have: http://armas.mai-gov.info/obtencao-de-licencas/ http://armas.mai-gov.info/obtencao-de-licencas/ Now you can buy weapons of the same caliber, for hunting (but you need hunting licensing). Edit: Ok I need to clarify this. Because we have a different name for specific weapons. Here we can sell semiautomatic rifles (we call them "carabinas", I didn't label them as rifles so my bad), for hunting (a specific class, for boars, deer, etc). The thing is every weapon that's imported in Portugal gets and inspection and a classification if it's a military weapon or not. An AR15 is considered a military grade weapon by our government standards. So yes, you can buy some specific models of semiautomatic rifles (for hunting), but you can't buy military grade semiautomatic rifles. You can't buy an AR15.
      - jakearmitage 6y ago
        I know the argument here has been towards being able to buy or not a specific platform (AR-15), but I would like to address this: > So yes, you can buy some specific models of semiautomatic rifles (for hunting), but you can't buy military grade semiautomatic rifles The semi-automatic rifles that you can buy in Portugal include the Remington 700 and the Thompson Performance Center T/C. Both can come chambered in .308 Win or 6.5 Creedmoor. Those cartridges have an immense stopping power and are significantly more powerful than the usual .223/5.56 you see in the AR-15 platform. Looking at hunting stores from Portugal, you can easily see those two rifles with 5 or 10 round magazines, same limits as the AR-15 in California. The Remington 700 has been widely used by the military all over the world, including the US. The M24 sniper rifle is the Remington 700, but with a heavier barrel (in order to use .300 Win which the US Marine Corps preferred). So, why is in your opinion the AR-15 platform "military grade", and the hunting rifles available in Portugal not? Knowing that both platforms have been used by the military in combat situations, and knowing the hunting platforms usually have much more powerful cartridges?