Italian Firearms Law Query

Hairy Hunter

Hi All,

Thinking of disserting SS Ireland, and moving to Italy. I am wondering what their firearms regulations are like? Can I bring over my shotgun/rifle/air rifle(hi power) etc.

Is there much red tape/ hunters exams etc?

I would be interested in Boar\Birds\rabbits.

ATB

HH.:P

Grizzly 45

RUN AWAY VERY QUICKLY!!
Unless you are Italiano yourself,speak the lingo,can deal with a society that looks after it's own first,,and has a a govt[only changed 46 times between Left and Right since ww2!] and beuraccy that makes our lot up here look like paragons of efficency and uncorruptability.I wouldnt recommend moving there with shooting or gun ownership in mind.Beautiful country to holiday in,and great friendly beautiafulla people,but alot nicer to leave and go home.For your sanitys sake:eek:

It is a MENTAL task to own a firearm down there .You apply to the ARMY for the hunting test,and depending where you live,to the Carabinerai [para military police who look very smart gaurding Govt buildings and whatnot] or the Policia[normal police who get to deal with everything else].Be prepared to abit of ping pong with you as the ball between those two before you get anywhere.You honestly need somone down there who can thread you through the difficult[even for Italians] manouvers to own a gun there.
If you are going hunting with them,I would advise a bullet proof vest!!
The World says the Yanks are the worst for Buck fever.They are nowhere near the Italians! They manage to shoot about a dozen hunters each year,and just about everything that flies,creeps ,crawls ,runs in their patch:eek:

rrpc

What he said

Bureaucracy is rampant, red tape everywhere. This is the country that tried to fine a chip shop owner €100,000 because he was missing receipts from his receipt book. I think the fine is €2,000 per receipt and he was missing a whole book of 50! It turned out he had never got the book, but couldn't prove it.

Fireamrs are as per Grizzly said. The Department of the Army run all shooting and in fact all the clubs. Hunting permits and all other related red tape run through them as well AFAIK.

Some things they do right such as the European Firearms Pass and the Tiro di Segno Sezione (clubs to you and me) are very well run with good facilities.

Hairy Hunter

Thanks Grizzlyrrpc,

Been there on many occaisions, they are big into the boar hunting around the area I am thinking of. Gun ownership seems to be high in rural areas, every road sign is shot out:eek:.

Can you give me more info on the hunters licence? Whats involved etc.

To be honest it doesnt sound much worse than here, red tape wise.

Thanks,

HH.

rrpc

Hairy Hunter wrote: »

Thanks Grizzlyrrpc,

Been there on many occaisions, they are big into the boar hunting around the area I am thinking of. Gun ownership seems to be high in rural areas, every road sign is shot out:eek:.

Can you give me more info on the hunters licence? Whats involved etc.

To be honest it doesnt sound much worse than here, red tape wise.

Thanks,

HH.

If you're intent on doing this, you definitely need someone over there (native) to run interference for you on the red tape. They'd need to know the ropes themselves because even native Italians run afoul of the bureaucracy when they don't know exactly how things work.

But seriously, I have to say you are jumping from the frying pan into the fire. If you think our economy is bad, think again. The Italians didn't even have a boom and there's worse to come. The political system is in a mess and it's no accident that there's been so many elections.

Its one of those places that looks great on the surface, but once you get a bit deeper, it starts to really look bad.

Grizzly 45

As the man RRPC said!:D
Put it like this; One of my friends is an Italian lawyer who specialises in criminal law,and even HE is having trouble trying to get an addition to his liscense of a big game rifle,for the last five years!!So if somone like that has trouble,how easy will you find it??:)

rrpc

If you really want to jump ship, then I'd suggest France or Germany within the EU. I don' know much about the German hunting scene, but the target shooting is second to none. There are literally thousands of target shooting clubs. Grizzly should know more about the hunting scene there I think.

France has good hunting and reasonably good firearms laws. It's a lot more transparent than Italy and although there are a few hoops to jump through, it's pretty straightforward. Add in a good health service, trains that run on time, a pretty nice climate (not to mention the wine) and a fairly affordable property situation and you've got a lot better proposition on your hands.

Keep in mind also that if you don't know the local language well, Italy is one of the worst countries for English speakers. Germany is pretty good and France has improved hugely in English speaking over the last ten years or so.

Grizzly 45

Both target and hunting liscenses in Germany are written,oral,and practical.Be prepared to put your time in on both before you get anywhere near live firearms.[They dont consider air power over there as a firearm.] Thing is;once you have the gun liscense in either hunting or target shooting.You have it for LIFE![unless you do somthing daft,like drink driving,drugs,acting the maggott in general or now fiddling your income tax!]:eek:.No more annual renewals,you can buy the gun straight out of the shop and walk off with it.It is up to you to get it regd with your local town council firearms unit within 10 days.
However,dont expect an English version of the tests. German or nothing.
So while moving to the mainland might have its advantages[a Hell of a lot] unless you are very fluent in the lingo and specific terminology relating to hunting or anything.You are at a horrible disadvantage.

In fairness to the Italianios,they are improving,and they can speak it when they want to,usually when monies are involved!.All I have to do is attempt to speak to them in my pidigin Italian and they all promptly revert to English.:eek::D.Causes no end of annoyance to me as I am trying to learn their lingo!

Sparks

Hell, if you're jumping ship, might as well aim for outside the EU alltogether and go to Switzerland - now that is a nation that knows how to do target shooting

dimebag249

I just got back from the Czech Republic. Civilians can own machine guns and carry concealed handguns. My plan is:

1. Learn Czech

2. GTFO