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Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun?

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May 14, 11, 21:54 #1

I am moving to Warsaw in September and was wondering what the weapons laws are there. I normally carry a concealed handgun in the US where I am licensed. I'm fairly certain I won't be able to do that anywhere in Europe, but I was wondering what the laws in Poland are as far as other things, such as knives and pepper spray. Can anyone here point me to this information? Also, in Poland can you have a firearm in your home?

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Edited by: JonnyM May 14, 11, 22:01 #2

ryanb:

I'm fairly certain I won't be able to do that anywhere in Europe,

You can't. Maybe in Finland or the Czech Republic, and even there it would be a very bad idea.

ryanb:

other things, such as knives and pepper spray

Why would you want to? It's a safe city.

ryanb:

Also, in Poland can you have a firearm in your home?

Only in very strict circumstances which don't apply to you. What would you do with it anyway - rob a bank?

Seriously, you are coming to a very different culture. If you shot somebody for tresspassing, you would be tried for murder.

You will be pleasantly surprised at how safe Warsaw is - carrying a gun or any other weapon is something that would never occur to most people.

♂ [Suspended]

May 14, 11, 22:12 #3

ryanb:

Also, in Poland can you have a firearm in your home?

You? No chance.

What can you carry? Not much legally. However, a bic lighter and a class ring will do a fair bit of damage. It's all about being able to explain why you have what you have: get caught with a baseball bat in your car and you'll have some explaining to do; get caught with a six D cell maglite in your car (i.e. a twenty inch metal bar which fits the hand nicely) and all you have to do is say "It gets dark at night."

isthatu2Threads: 13 Posts: 5,225 Joined: Apr 3, 08 ♂	May 14, 11, 22:40 #4
Harry: get caught with a baseball bat in your car and you'll have some explaining to do Im guessing an American might be able to bluff a good reason,failing that,just do what I do and keep a ball and Mitt in the car too ;)

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Edited by: Bartolome May 14, 11, 22:46 #5

Leave your guns in the US. As a foreigner you would need to ask for a permit from Polish consulate to bring your gun over to Poland just to have it taken away from you by the Police for deposit (unless you'd be working as some guard at US embassy or the like). In practice only hunters can have hunting weapons (you have to be a member of PZŁow. - Polish Hunters' Association). Acquiring weapon other than hunting one is very difficult for a 'civilian'. However, you can become a weapon user (as opposed to an owner) by joining your local shooting range (strzelnica). Having a gun without a permit in your house is illegal and you would most likely would get some holidays at taxpayers' expense in one of Polish penitentiary resorts. You can have an airgun or a 'hand gas thrower' (ręczny miotacz gazu obezwładniającego), but you need to register them with your nearest Police station.
Wapons & Munitions Act (in Polish)

HarryThreads: 62 Posts: 8,508 Joined: May 2, 07 ♂ [Suspended]	May 14, 11, 22:53 #6
isthatu2: just do what I do and keep a ball and Mitt in the car too ;) Neither a ball nor a mitt help you see in the dark, but a six D cell maglite does (which is obviously the only reason there's one under the passenger seat in my car).

MalopolaninThreads: 8 Posts: 198 Joined: Sep 5, 10 ♂	May 14, 11, 23:26 #7
Penalty for entering the lawn: http://www.policja.waw.pl/portal/pl/1/13337/Zatrzymania_pseudokibicow_ w_Warszawie.html Welcome to Poland.

piston	May 15, 11, 05:38 #8
if your a felon, drug addict ,mentally sick and carry loaded firearm in public you can be locked up to 3 years in big house

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May 15, 11, 08:58 #9

ryanb:

I am moving to Warsaw in September and was wondering what the weapons laws are there. I normally carry a concealed handgun in the US where I am licensed.

By and large there's no reason to CC in Poland. I've had one instance where I would have left holes in a group, but it was racially motivated. 99% of the time, assault here involves both parties being under the influence (at or outside of bars, clubs), you wouldn't carry in the US in that situation either. I carried every once in a while when I lived in the Czech Republic, mostly when camping. But for the most part, no need.

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Edited by: isthatu2 May 15, 11, 12:47 #10

Who the hell needs to carry a concealed pistol in Europe anyway? Certainly not Joe average citizen. You'd either have to try really hard to find the sort of trouble that would warrent it or be caught up in the sort of fluke unfortunate situation where anything less than full body armour and an assault rifle would be useless and more like than not get you shot by the local coppers.
If I moved to the states Im sure as soon as I could Id be down the local gunstore (but tbh thats more just to get my hands on classic stuff like an M1 garrand) but unless you specifically need one for your work there really is no call for them in europe.
Warsaw seems to me a pretty safe city,even if I did mildly freek at having Uzi's pointed at me by Group4 security guards.........but to be fair to them,I was stood outside a Bank wearing a pea coat and black watch cap,sorta looking like central castings idea of shady Bank robber :)

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May 15, 11, 13:08 #11

Ok, this here is going in the wrong direction.

TS is American, the right to bear arms is universally recognized in all U.S. states and is a significant part of American identity. Please don't treat him like a koala bear on an eucalyptus-fuelled rampage, he's just being American.

1) You will not be able to carry Your U.S. firearm in Poland.

2) The chances of You legally obtaining a CCW for a firearm for self-defence purposes in Poland are 0%.

3) There is no such thing as a "gun at home" in Poland. Each and every gun requires a proper permit ( rifles, shotguns ) or a CCW ( pistols ), regardless of where You store it and where You take it.

4) People that I personally know in Poland who obtained CCW's and aren't "hunters" usually fit the same mold: former Polish police/military, formerly employed by one of the local 3 letter agencies or businessmen who happen to be extremely well connected locally. Oh, yes, and politicians.

You do the math.

5) Right of self-defence in Poland is extremely different from what You've got in U.S. and the "castle doctrine" doesn't exist. If a man attacks You and You shoot him dead You will be in trouble even if he had 5 inches and 150 pounds on You. Running for the embassy does seem Your best bid in such a case.

6) Having a "weapon" ( notice, I stopped using the term firearm, pistol, etc. ) in Poland without a proper permit is a criminal offence. Same applies to firearm ammunitions. Jail sentences are not unusual.

7) A "weapon" is ********** defined by appropriate Polish law. Not going to get into the details, but let's just say this:

A baseball bat is a weapon ( named as such in the appropriate legal act which I believe was quoted here ), requires a permit and You can go to jail for having one without it. Apparently it became some sort of a boogeyman in the 90's, hence this stupidity.

A knife is not considered a weapon for the purposes of needing a permit for it ( see appropriate legal act ). Neither is a machete. Or a sword, battleaxe, ranseur or bec de corbin. Why? They're not in the said legal act. You can carry them, even openly. But if You use them they'll be considered as weapons for the purposes of deciding what crime You actually committed.

Yeah, I know, welcome to Eastern Europe.

PolskiMocThreads: 7 Posts: 488 Joined: Mar 15, 10 ♂ [Suspended]	May 15, 11, 13:23 #12
Poland has strict gun laws. But, It shouldn't. I find it kind of insulting. Because the Soviets & Nazis both took the guns of Poles so we could not rebel. So, This is why I think Poland should have practically no laws. Polish people need their guns. If we had our guns under Soviet & Nazis then we would have had a better chance or rebelling.

HusariawiktoriaThreads: 1 Posts: 11 Joined: Apr 24, 10 ♂	May 15, 11, 13:27 #13
Ah yes. The ' fearful American '. Be afraid, be very afraid! Danger lurks on every corner and every alley way. No wonder hand gun deaths are so high in the USA.

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May 15, 11, 13:37 #14

Husariawiktoria:

Ah yes. The ' fearful American '.

Be afraid, be very afraid! Danger lurks on every corner and every alley way.

No wonder hand gun deaths are so high in the USA.

Russia, Mexico, Colombia, ect all have much lower gun ownership rates than the U.S & yet much higher murder rates.

Norway has one of the highest gun ownership rates in Europe & Yet one of the lowest Crime rates.

While the U.K has the lowest gun ownership rate in Western Europe & Yet the highest murder rates in West Europe are found in the U.K
Like in Glasgow

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Edited by: ryanb May 15, 11, 18:30 #15

Wow. Such emotional responses to such a simple question. I know a lot of you think that Americans are all a little trigger-happy, but let me give you some context on why I tend to carry:

1. I grew up in a very rough neighborhood in Los Angeles where my family and I were witnesses to the murder of a child. As a result we had constant death threats to try to keep us from testifying; the district attorney told my father to purchase a gun because he was not confident that the police could protect us. There were gang shootings at my school, etc. That has an effect on one's psyche.

2. I have worked both in corrections and as a police officer, and I have run into my "clients" off duty on numerous occasions, in situations that could have easily become a confrontation with someone I had fought with on duty previously in a segregation unit. Not being armed would have been irresponsible under those circumstances and endangered my family. I know these circumstances do not apply to my stay in Poland. I merely sought to be informed of the laws there, because I firmly believe in obeying, honoring and sustaining the law, something that is hard to do if you don't know what the law is.

I know that Europeans have a different outlook on weapons, war, and many other things than Americans. One of the reasons I will be living in Europe is so that I can respectfully learn about and appreciate other cultures on a real, day to day level (not just on the level of a tourist) and have a better understanding of the way they think. I accept that not everyone looks at the world the way I do. I want to understand how they do look at it. I think a lot of you should try to do the same.

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May 15, 11, 20:29 #16

Let me try to give you an unemotional response. I understand your reasons for carrying and they make sense to me.

As a kid, I had a .22 rifle which I used only for target shooting and plinking. I had it until I finished high school, but it was stolen when my family moved back from Japan to the States and I didn't miss it.

During my 12 years as an officer in the Marine Corps, including a tour in Vietnam, I didn't own a personal firearm, though I was around them every day. I never saw the need for one, and never put myself in a situation where one was necessary. I did bring my kabar to Poland, but only for nostalgic reasons and it remains in my room as a memento.

This is Poland. I've been here for four years. You don't need a weapon of any sort here, and I think carrying one on the street would be crazy for all the reasons posted before. Poland's a safe country. Enjoy your stay here, but please leave your guns at home.

GrzegorzK

May 15, 11, 22:51 #17

Hey Ryan, I'm Polish American. I live in upstate New York. My parents escaped communism to come here, I am big time hunter and used to do security work and thus am trained in handguns, so I understand where you are coming from. Poland is not like here, it is much safer, it is nothing like American, where you have melting pot. Poland is 99% polish people there, and 99% catholic... which means they generally don't believe in mugging, or stealing from other people, especially their own citizens. Because Poland was always invaded the last 50 years by its larger neighbors, polish people have different mentality then Americans and are more friendly to each other because they are all in the same boat. Poland generally does not alllow carry concealed weapons at this time, but maybe in the future under different government and politicians it will... but as of right now it is not allowed. Only people in Poland who can carry pistols under most circumstances are ex military or law enforcement. My uncle was airborne army in Poland then worked in Border Patrol and he had a pistol he could keep. Otherwise you can have rifles and shotguns for hunting which is fairly popular in Poland. I would love to see gun laws relaxed in Poland so people could defend themselves in case of foreign invasions which is still possible today. You will just have to be creative with your personal protection. Are you a bodygaurd or will be bodygaurding? why do you need to carry the gun? that is different story for business reasons they might honor it to you.

delphiandomineThreads: 42 Posts: 9,954 Joined: Nov 25, 08 ♂ [Suspended]	May 15, 11, 23:36 #18
GrzegorzK: or stealing from other people, especially their own citizens. HahahahahahahahahahahAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Poles love nothing more than to cheat their fellow people.

Pinching PeteThreads: 1 Posts: 1,111 Joined: Feb 23, 08 ♂	May 15, 11, 23:49 #19
PolskiMoc: Russia, Mexico, Colombia, ect all have much lower gun ownership rates than the U.S & yet much higher murder rates. Yeah, interesting.. Maybe because the high corruption there with the police. Still, there's a lot of extremely scary places in the US. I'd probably keep guns out of Poland as much as possible.

Chicago PollockThreads: 10 Posts: 638 Joined: Apr 10, 10 ♂	May 16, 11, 06:20 #20
Husariawiktoria: No wonder hand gun deaths are so high in the USA. No wonder Poland has been invaded so often.

Monia

May 16, 11, 11:38 #21

delphiandomine:

Poles love nothing more than to cheat their fellow people.

Why are you saying such things , just read stats, pls. Here are some stats on frauds :

As a matter of fact Germany leads the stats in frauds committed , they are actually 5 times more frequent than in Poland :

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_fra_percap-crime-frauds-per-capi ta

Poland has got almost 10 times lower firearm homicide rate than USA . There is no point for bringing a firearm to Poland .

Also I want to inform you that all gun related crimes are mostly mafia related ( drug dealing , cigarettes trafficking etc ) and an average person has got no chances to be a victim of such crimes in the entire lifetime .

Poland has got a very low rate of all crimes committed per capita , it is far behind USA , Canada and Western Europe .

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_tot_cri_percap-crime-total-crime s-per-capita

We are peace loving people . So , welcome to Poland and feel safe .

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Edited by: Antek_Stalich May 16, 11, 11:47 #22

Monia:

Poland has got almost 10 times lower firearm homicide rate than USA . There is no point for bringing a firearm to Poland .

Very true.

Only yesterday, I was passing Motel George that is around 22 km SW from the centre of Warsaw. In 1990, there was some shooting between two competing gangs there. Many people still remember this fact as something very unusual. If I drove by George together with some American and would like to tell him the story about a shooting that happened 21 years ago, I bet the comment would be "Why are you trying to tell me about something such banal? What was so special with that very shooting?"

A friend of mine and his girlfriend are working in the police. By regulations (I'm not sure what unit they work for), they need to carry concealed firearms while wearing plain clothes. Once, both of them were strapping their guns on in my presence before they went to their university for Sunday lectures. I was quite shocked seeing that, so unusual it was.

SoftsongThreads: 6 Posts: 588 Joined: Sep 2, 07 ♀	May 16, 11, 12:55 #23
Antek_Stalich: In 1990, there was some shooting between two competing gangs there. Many people still remember this fact as something very unusual Wish I could say the same thing about the hotel where I work. Good example Antek. Poland is very safe. I've traveled with people and all alone in Poland. And as a woman who only knows a tiny bit of Polish, I always felt safe.

z_dariusThreads: 22 Posts: 5,091 Joined: Oct 18, 07 ♂	May 16, 11, 13:09 #24
GrzegorzK: I would love to see gun laws relaxed in Poland so people could defend themselves in case of foreign invasions which is still possible today. Oh brother! Best to get a shogun then. With the spread of the lead you could take down not one but a few of those Russian rockets.

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May 16, 11, 13:57 #25

Softsong:

Poland is very safe. I've traveled with people and all alone in Poland. And as a woman who only knows a tiny bit of Polish, I always felt safe.

There were times when Poland (especially big cities) was less safe. In my opinion, the level of safety has improved enormously. Back in 1990, most of cars were protected against theft by a lock on the steering wheel, a lock on gearbox lever, immobilizer, alarm, etc. You see no locks on the steering wheel or gearbox lever anymore. I own an old car. Very often I do not lock the door while parking in daytime in cities. Nobody is interested to steal the car or rob items (since I leave nothing worthy inside).

Back in 1990, my unfinished house was robbed and all new radiators (heating elements) were stolen. Nowadays not only the Police and City Watch patrol the neighbourhood regularly; they also come and ask if there is any problem in case they see something strange. I feel pretty safe nowadays.

MidasThreads: 2 Posts: 788 Joined: Jul 19, 10 ♂	May 16, 11, 15:23 #26
Antek makes some very valid points. There's a vast difference between Poland circa, shall we say, 1995 and Poland now.

MEMBER ♂

Edited by: Havok May 16, 11, 17:11 #27

I can't help but notice that all of you kids are scared of guns in Poland. Guns don't kill people, people kill people and owning a gun doesn't make you a bad person.
See what I don’t quite understand is that apparently you have no problem letting your government own guns, (the police, security guards, politicians, soldiers), but then you strongly object to everyone else owning one. I think it’s a sign of being brainwashed. You have the fighting instincts of a bunch of sheep… BAAAH BAAAH. You should have a right and choice to own a weapon. It’s about the choice, and you don’t have one.

z_dariusThreads: 22 Posts: 5,091 Joined: Oct 18, 07 ♂	May 16, 11, 17:15 #28
Havok: I can't help but notice that all of you kids are scared of guns in Poland. Hold your horses. How about Poles don's see the need to own guns, but Americans are so scared they need and want guns?

HavokThreads: 14 Posts: 1,508 Joined: Mar 12, 10 MEMBER ♂	May 16, 11, 17:31 #29
z_darius: Hold your horses. How about Poles don's see the need to own guns Your argument carries no weight whatsoever. Plain and simple, you don't have a choice. Your government rules you like bunch of peasants. You can't even own a baseball bat,lol

z_dariusThreads: 22 Posts: 5,091 Joined: Oct 18, 07 ♂	May 16, 11, 17:38 #30
Havok: Your government rules you like bunch of peasants. Your doesn't? Havok: You can't even own a baseball bat,lol That may come as a shock to you, but baseball bats are quite legal in Canada.

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