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URL : http://www.grip.org/bdg/g1050b.html Date d'insertion : 22/06/2006

New arms legislation in Belgium

by Cédric Poitevin *

21/06/2006

On Friday 9 June 2006, a new arms legislation entered into force in Belgium. As in many countries, the new Belgian regime now generally bans unrestricted possession and carrying of guns[1].

Until today, buying a weapon in Belgium was a very easy task. One only needed to be of age and show an identity card. The police check happened after the sale upon declaration of the vendor.

The loopholes in the legislation showed their tragic consequences in late May 2006 in Antwerp after a teenager, supporting right-wing racist ideals, shot and killed a woman and a baby in a racially motivated attack, and injured a third person. The teenager had bought the hunting rifle used in the killings that same morning in a gun shop. This dramatic event sped up the legislative process which had been slowed down because of the massive resistance of the gun lobby since 2002.

The new law has three main objectives: forbidding the unrestricted sale of firearms, improving the traceability of weapons and of their owners and finally, strengthening the regulation of the activities of gun dealers.

In order to do so, arms are now categorized in three groups: prohibited weapons (such as automatic guns, weapons of war or nunchakus), weapons for unrestricted sale (most non-firearms, firearms transformed into non-shooting arms or weapons for collections) and weapons under authorization (any other weapon).

The possession authorization will be granted after a three-month practical and theoretical procedure coupled with police screening and a psycho-medical check and is renewable after a five years period. Every person wishing to own a weapon will have to provide a legitimate motive to do so. Only sport shooters and hunters possessing a licence for their activities can obtain derogation depending on their judicial record and medical history, their knowledge of the legislation and their ability to use firearms.
The authorization of carrying a gun is restricted to three years with an exception for sport shooters and hunters in the frame of their activities.

All weapons made or imported into Belgium will be marked with a unique identification number and registered in the Central Register of Arms. This measure will improve weapons traceability. To this day, only 800,000 out of an estimated 2,000,000 weapons in circulation in Belgium are registered - and most of them wrongly.

Gun dealers will have to prove their professional competence and justify the origins of their financial means. The professional licence will be granted for only seven years after which it has to be renewed.

The owners of weapons which have become illegal under the new law are granted a six-month transitional period to either hand over or destroy their weapons or to request a license under the new law for the possession of these weapons. The handing over of weapons which were already illegal under the previous legislation will also be covered by an amnesty.

The new law also introduces tighter penalties: up to five years imprisonment and/or a fine of up to 25,000 Euros.

However some gaps remain and should be filled. For example, the new legislation does not mention the marking and tracing of ammunition, controls on manufacture and transformation carried out by gunsmiths. Also, it does not provide for the control of the effective use of the weapon compared with the legitimate motive for its possession.

For further informations, please contact :
Ilhan Berkol, Claudio Gramizzi et Cédric Poitevin, GRIP researchers, tel : 0032 (0)2/2418420.

* GRIP Researcher GRIP.

[1]. New legislation text "Loi réglant des activités économiques et individuelles avec des armes" (French/Dutch). See also the study by C. POITEVIN, "Etude du projet de loi sur les armes de la ministre de la Justice Laurette Onkelinx", Note d'analyse du GRIP, november 14th 2005 and the study by I. BERKOL, "Une nouvelle loi sur les armes en Belgique", Note d'analyse du GRIP, may 26th 2006.