I have a serious question Vertigo
You live in a country known far and wide for making some of the finest weapons on the planet and you can't own them?? did I get the wrong message in your post?? I mean in this day and age I can see almost anything happening like that... hell most of the biggest anti gun senators in our congress are from Connecticut where a larg number of our sporting weapons are made...go figger...just wondered...good luck over there !! and remember !" You can always count of the French...when they need you!! opps!
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Yeah, its a real perversion. We have been at the edge of weapon making longer than most countries exist, yet as far as owning weapons we have some of the strictest gunlaws there are. To be honest there is no one in Belgium who fully understands what all the rules are about, but I'll give a try:
As far as I understand, for every firearm you buy, you must obtain a permit, which is processed by the governor of your province (takes about 6 months). In this request for a firerarms license (it is a request, it can be denied for any reason they see fit) you must also state what you intend to use this firearm for. Once you obtain this permit, it can only be used for that one firearm, if you decide to buy another, the whole process starts again (you can however send in up to 3 (unsure, might be 5 as well) in one single request)
You are not allowed at all any firearms, 1. of an automatic kind, 2. of having a magazine over 10 rounds (exceptions for pistols), 3. of having silencers, 4. modifying the weapon in an extensive way (like shortenening the barrel and such, or installing muzzle brakes), 5. and not anything above caliber .308 (except for hunting rifles, which are usually 2-4 shot rifles). In fact, if there exists a technology to render a certain firearm with a lower round capacity, it will be obligatory.
It is not allowed to carry a weapon on your person (bodyguards can request a permit for this, but in 99% of the cases private citizens cannot). A weapon includes, 1. knives of any kind with a blade longer than about the width of your hand, 2. no pepperspray, 3. no tazers, 4. no switchblades, 5. no batons, 5. in general no concealable weapons of any sort.
There is a permit called a "sportschutterslicentie" which is roughly translated a "permit for sporting purposes" which is for double barrel shotguns (to shoot clays) and for handguns and rifles of caliber .22 or lower. This is easier to obtain however.
Apart from all this, even taking into account the conversion of dollars into euros, firearms in general cost about 2-5 times as much as in the us, with ammo, depending on the caliber (one brick of 50 rounds of .22 for about 10 dollars) to one round of .45 for about 2 dollars.
To conclude, for being one of the best firearm making countries in the world, we are in fact very much screwed. But that is the european way of life (which I do not agree with).
In fact, concerning using a firearm to defend yourself, that is a quick way to land yourself in jail for a year or 10. Even if you were fully justified.
On the other hand, I wouldn't really want the gun laws in Belgium to become much more lax all of a sudden, since 99% of the population here doesn't know how to handle them anyway.
hope this solves some of your questions,
best regards,
V.
PS: I might be off on some of the details, but I got the majority correct, it is just impossible to fully understand them correctly.
EDIT: Oh I forgot, that firearms license (apart from being registred and everything) has to be renewed every 5 years, or you need to turn your firearm in to the police. Even if it is your great grandfathers single barrel shotgun which has been unusuable for 50 years. So many firearms get destroyed by this. By the way, these licenses are not cheap, I do not know exact figures, but I have heard about 200 euros (270 dollars) each...
