This email from Andrew Walls arrived in my mail-box and I'm
pleased to put the offer on the Web as requested.
Johnny <johnny@dvc.org.uk>,
October 1996
Shooters in Norway have started a campaign where they take at least one pistol from disenfranchised British shooters and look after it while the BSSC runs your case through the European Court at Strasbourg thereby avoiding the gun being confiscated. If you wish to participate contact me. Tell your friends!
The offer involves the shooter in Britain sending his gun to a shooter in Norway who puts it on his FAC and keeps the gun until the handgun ban is reversed. The British owner will have to go good for the costs involved such as postage and the registration fee (ca. GBP 12.50) that the Norwegian "keeper" incurs. An agreement spelling out the duties and rights of both parties is under drafting.
Don't let the bastards grind you down.
Andrew has since sent further information as follows -
I have found out a little more info for you. The British shooter has to obtain an Export Licence from the Department of Trade. Whether through ignorance or an attempt to be obstructive, they are sending out the same application form that is used when exporting military hardware such as warships and guided missiles. This is a very thick piece of Whitehall paperwork requiring all sorts of confirmation from abroad. Maybe you could check it out and find out if there is a simpler form for small arms, or sporting guns. I have taken guns from Britain to Norway before and never had this sort of hassle - even for section 5 guns!
Unfortunately the only acceptable way of posting the guns out of the country is by Datapost. This is VERY expensive…about stlg45 per parcel!
I have begun to advise shooters wishing to send their guns to Norway to contact a dealer in Britain who exports to assist them with sending the guns out. I really cannot see why the British government is hindering the export of handguns as for each gun exported from the country means one less to pay compensation on.
The Firearms Act is under review in Norway and Lisbeth Holand (Chairwoman of the Justice Committee) has gone to the newspapers saying that she thinks that the British legislation is a good model…! Fortunately she is not a member of the majority party, so though vocal, she has little chance of putting her thoughts into practice. She has been getting on the TV and Radio a lot recently as there have been three serious shooting incidents. At Alesund a man shot his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend dead with his registered 9mm pistol. This is the first time that a member of a gun club has killed someone with his own handgun in Norway. An immigrant went on the rampage in Oslo, shooting at four people at four different places on the street in broad daylight with a 9mm pistol. Three of the victims (all immigrants) are still in hospital. A drunk man went amok in Amot with a shotgun at night shooting at everything that moved. Fortunately he was so drunk that he didn't hit anybody. All this happened over a four day period just after the TV news announced that "160.000 banned British handguns are on the way to Norway". The latter two incidents were commited with unregistered firearms. The shotgun man had been previously banned from owning guns. Unfortunately at a time when the Firearms Act is under review these incidents add weight to those who want fewer guns around and measures such as private guns being stored in central armouries are being bandied about. You can maybe understand that I don't want to overly antagonise the anti-gun brigade. NSF (The Norwegian Shooting Federation) has a member on the sub-committee that is coming with proposals for the new law and she says that there will be nothing radical that will affect the active sports or game shooter. I just hope what she says is true. The shooting sports are very fragmented in Norway. The rifle shooters give a damn about the pistol shooters, while the game shooting brigade give a damn about the whole concept of sports shooting. Traditionally the police have simply administered the issuing of FAC's and variations, seldom saying no to one more gun. Shooters who live under such a regime seem to think that such a situation will go on forever. I hope that Norways free and easy attitude to privately owned guns continues, but the criminals are becoming more willing to use guns. It is really like Britain in the early 1970's, though as we have a border with Russia there are lots of Russian weapons coming into the country and ending up in criminal hands.
Latest email -
I have just had a phone call from someone attempting to send a gun to Norway. It seems that the DoT are demanding a copy of the import permit. In Norway there is no such thing as an import permit. Once the Police have issued permission to purchase the shooter can buy his gun wherever he or she wants. I'll send a copy of this "Kjcpetillatelse" with a translation to England and we'll see how it goes. If you have any further information about obtaining export lisences tell me, or more importantly put it on your net page.
Some information on gun ownership in Norway -
In Norway the armed forces have consistantly sold off surplus arms to the civilian market. Earlier this year 12,000 Mauser 98's rebarrelled to .30-06 were released from military stores and sold. If you have GBP 100 I can get one for you. Previously various types of pistols, M1 Garands, US Carbines, even Sten Guns and MP 40's (Schmeissers) have been sold on the civilian market. Today the Police are a bit more reluctant about issuing variations for full auto guns. I find it curious that the antis focus on handguns as being the evil gun when there are hundreds of thousands of people who have full auto weapons at home. Apart from civilians with machine guns on their FAC, members of the armed forces are encouraged to have their full kit at home just in case…Full kit naturally includes their service weapon and ammo. Sadly thefts of these guns are about a third of all gun thefts annually. It is only human to look after your own nice rifle bought with your own hard earned money and lock it away, but the army's gun…that can stand in the broom cupboard.
Maybe the antis don't realise that civilians can legally own full auto guns. Those who spout out in the press or on the radio don't know anything about the legitimate uses of guns. They seem to have obtained their impressions of gun use from Hollywood Films.
Andrew Walls <Andrew.Walls@nbr.no>
Near the arctic circle
Norway
Fax: 00 47 75 15 75 05
The DTI address is -
Department of Trade and Industry