I don't get #4. What are these special licenses? How tough are they to get and is everyone in Austria eligible to get one or is there a quote on the number? Also are all guns allowed to these people with special licenses? Just curious :)

Technically, everyone who is not a murderer and is mentally sane can get a license. With said license you can get up to 2 semi-automatic guns. Those must be stored at home, locked away and unloaded.

With another license with is much harder to get, you can even carry them around (loaded) and are allowed to own more than 300 rounds.
In order to get full-automatic weapons you need a very good reason and/or the appropriate job or be a member of a guns-club.

Guns that are produced before the year 1870 are avilable to everyone above the age of 21 (if you are mentally sane).

In order to get the permission for more than 2 firearms, you need to extend you license and all guns must be registered and written down in your license.

Theoretically speaking you can get all guns, you can get in the US, in Austria too. It just takes a lot paperwork.

With communism came stability, not any kind of collapse.

Not any kind of collapse, just like the Soviets, right?

And I find it ludicrous you cannot realize how potentially catastrophic the housing bubble is. It just boggles me. I give up. Learn economics.

http://economyandmarkets.com/markets/housing-market-markets/chinas-unprecedented-real-estate-bubble-is-a-ticking-time-bomb/

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-14/could-chinas-housing-bubble-bring-down-global-economy

Edited 3/19/2016 02:08:08

Not any kind of collapse, just like the Soviets, right?

Soviet collapse was since the government started giving freedoms, and converting to capitalism. Gorbachöv "shock therapy" capitalism is what ended it.

And I find it ludicrous you cannot realize how potentially catastrophic the housing bubble is. It just boggles me. I give up. Learn economics.

Well, I can't say I'm good about economy, so I will be quiet for now. Economy is a fluid thing in which both sides will help you, and is very argued.

Theoretically speaking you can get all guns, you can get in the US, in Austria too. It just takes a lot paperwork.

Ah I see! Thanks for the information. Austria is pretty lax on gun laws then compared to the rest of Europe no?

*Western Europe

Edited 3/19/2016 02:32:48

That's how it works in the EU, I think.

^I'm pretty sure in the UK you can't get a semiautomatic even with a gun license. Although I know there are hunting guns that are allowed with a license.

All I know is that Automatic-guns are not allowed in Germany unless your job explicitly requests it.

And yeah, actually gun-laws are pretty relaxed in Austria, but thats simply due to the fact that practically no one owns one, apart from the Police and the military.
We just see no reason to waste money on one.

I'm pretty sure in the UK you can't get a semiautomatic even with a gun license. Although I know there are hunting guns that are allowed with a license.

I'm pretty sure you can get automatic rifles there, though they're pretty reluctant to give them out.

Frain to gun-loving Americans: Do you even have a fire extinguisher? I know you buy these guns for self-shielding, but you're much more likely to die of a fire than by violence in America - and a fire extinguisher in a fire is much more of a guarantee that you'll live through a fire than a gun in a firefight.

Edited 3/19/2016 03:15:01

My aunt, she owned about 50 guns , she had one.

Maybe, but what do you reckon's the demography for all folk who own guns?

Don't know. Too speculative.

Its personal liberty. As long as you don't commit a crime with one, its your choice if you want to invite that level of danger into your life.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/07/15/the-demographics-and-politics-of-gun-owning-households/

Site is not working for me, but I think this had something about fire extinguishers.

Fact is guns have saved more lives than ended.

Often, they work as a leverage point between criminal and civilian.

They turn a civilian into a vigilante if others are threatened.

It takes 5 minutes for cops to come but 5 seconds to have the weapon ready

Fact is guns have saved more lives than ended.

First of all, it's not a "fact". Second, probably it's the opposite. Mutually assured wrecking is not a thing, it just ends in delayed great bloodshed. Fire extinguishers and some kevlar armour, now those I'm almost sure have saved more lives than killed (how do you kill someone with armour? Not my weapon of choice). I mean, you can even by some normal-looking shirts that can deflect some of the lower-speed bullets. They're popular amongst those who can afford them in Middle and South America (which have the highest murder rates in the world; higher than America). I own a gun, just a medium-sized revolver, but I also own a fire extinguisher, some of those clothes that can stop low-speed bullets, and some hazard boots (they're awesome, electricity resistant, force-absorbing, metal-toed).

If mutual assured destruction worked, then mutual assured murder works moreso.

Precisely. One can die, or two can die.

But none will die.

If mutual assured destruction worked, then mutual assured murder works moreso.