Firearms-Control Legislation & Policy
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Firearms-Control Legislation & Policy Australia • Brazil • Canada • China • Egypt • Germany Great Britain • Israel • Japan • Lebanon • Mexico New Zealand • Norway • Russia • Singapore South Africa • Spain • Switzerland European Union February 2013 LL File No. 2013-008781 LRA-D-PUB-000066 The Law Library of Congress, Global Legal Research Directorate (202) 707-5080 (phone) • (866) 550-0442 (fax) • [email protected] • http://www.law.gov This report is provided for reference purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and does not represent the official opinion of the United States Government. The information provided reflects research undertaken as of the date of writing. It has not been updated. Contents Comparative Summary ....................................................................................................................1 Australia.........................................................................................................................................16 Brazil..............................................................................................................................................37 Canada............................................................................................................................................52 China..............................................................................................................................................61 Egypt..............................................................................................................................................72 Germany.........................................................................................................................................80 Great Britain...................................................................................................................................89 Israel.............................................................................................................................................108 Japan ............................................................................................................................................116 Lebanon........................................................................................................................................131 Mexico .........................................................................................................................................138 New Zealand ................................................................................................................................148 Norway.........................................................................................................................................168 Russia ..........................................................................................................................................181 Singapore .....................................................................................................................................190 South Africa.................................................................................................................................196 Spain ............................................................................................................................................213 Switzerland ..................................................................................................................................221 European Union ...........................................................................................................................228 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................238 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS FIREARMS-CONTROL LEGISLATION AND POLICY I. Introduction This survey describes the different legal approaches taken by eighteen countries and the European Union (EU) with regard to ownership, possession, and other activities involving firearms.* The individual reports cover laws, regulations, and directives, in addition to statistical and other relevant information on gun control. The reports also address the availability or lack thereof of a constitutional right to bear arms under foreign law; the scope of firearms-related activities that are subject to licensing; conditions for the issuance of licenses, including background checks of the applicant’s mental and criminal history; training, testing, and storage requirements; weapons bans; and registration procedures, including the use of a central register in some of the countries surveyed. Many reports describe legislative history and trends, which in some cases were influenced by rising crime levels or incidents of mass shootings. A bibliography of selected recent English language materials is included. II. Mass Shootings in Foreign Countries Incidents of mass shooting in schools and other public venues by so-called “lone wolves” are not unique to the United States. Shortly prior to the completion of this report, on January 3, 2013, a thirty-four-year-old militiaman in Daillon, Switzerland went on a shooting spree, killing three women and wounding two men with his militia weapon. In 1987 in Hungerford, England, a gunman equipped with two lawfully owned semiautomatic rifles shot and killed sixteen people and wounded fourteen more before killing himself. In 2010 in Cumbria, northwest England, a gunman killed twelve people and wounded twenty-five using firearms he lawfully possessed. Port Arthur, Australia, was the scene of a mass shooting in 1996, when a twenty-eight- year-old gunman armed with a semiautomatic rifle shot and killed thirty-five people and wounded eighteen others. That same year a gunman armed with two lawfully held rifles and four handguns walked into an elementary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and shot and killed sixteen four- to five-year-old children and their teacher before killing himself. * The countries surveyed include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, Germany, Great Britain, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, and Switzerland. These countries and the EU were selected based on interest in their firearms-control laws and the way these laws are implemented, the desire to cover a wide selection of continents and cultures, and the current availability of staff expertise at the Law Library of Congress. The Law Library of Congress 1 Firearms-Control Legislation and Policy In Germany, teenage shooters armed with semiautomatic pistols or a sawed-off percussion rifle shot schoolchildren and teachers on three different occasions in 2002, 2006, and in 2009, all ending with multiple deaths and casualties. Norway similarly witnessed a gruesome mass killing in 2011 by a man who had first bombed the government district of Oslo and then, using weapons he had lawfully acquired for hunting, shot and killed seventy-seven and wounded 242 mostly young people at a youth camp. Incidents of mass killings are not unknown to Russians, who experienced terrorist attacks on a hospital, theater, and school in 2002 and 2004, as well as a number of more recent mass shootings in public places committed by criminals or mentally unstable people. Mass shootings in China, where the private possession of firearms is generally banned, are rare, and the Chinese media correlates the country’s strict firearms-control laws to the generally fewer crimes committed with guns and explosives in China as compared with other countries. This report explores the different legal approaches taken by the surveyed countries regarding licensing of firearms, including requirements for proper training, safe storage, criminal and mental-health background checks, mental health, and enforcement. III. Constitutional Right to Bear Arms Among the countries surveyed only Mexico was found to have an express provision in its Constitution that recognizes the right of inhabitants to bear arms. This right extends to possession of arms at one’s home for security and legitimate defense, with the exception of weapons that are prohibited by federal law and those reserved for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and National Guard. The Mexican Constitution expressly provides that the conditions under which inhabitants may be authorized to bear arms are to be determined by federal law. IV. Possession of Firearms by Military Personnel Compulsory military service, which exists in several of the countries surveyed, often gives rise to special laws governing conscripts’ use and possession of military weapons and ammunition. Israel and Switzerland illustrate two varied approaches to this issue. Conscription begins at age eighteen in Israel and nineteen in Switzerland, and generally ends at age forty-five in Israel and between the ages of thirty-four and fifty in Switzerland, depending on the military or militia rank of conscripts in these countries. In Switzerland militiamen are issued personal equipment, including a personal weapon and ammunition, that they are authorized to keep in their homes even after retirement. Israel maintains a much more restrictive policy on soldiers taking military firearms on home leave and reserve service. As a general rule, Israeli soldiers do not take their guns on home leave. Exceptions to this rule apply to soldiers who serve in combat units; serve in the West Bank or other specified The Law Library of Congress 2 Firearms-Control Legislation and Policy areas; or obtain