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[Hanslanda]

Case in point: Millwall Brick. Take a newspaper, roll and fold it. Apply savagely about the neck and head.

[Mathel]

Or the weapon controlling laws don't exist primarily to penalise you for having the weapon, but rather prevent you from gaining one.

That makes the weapon difficult to obtain illegaly, which is option A.

[hector13]

So, according to Norwegian law, it is strictly illegal to own or use weapons such as blowpipes (for the firing of darts or other objects), slingshots (particularly funny because the Norwegian word for such can be directly translated to "bouncy pea"), electroshock weapons like Tasers (ranged or touch), pepperspray, "fighting gloves" (not sure what this means, specifically), shuriken, any sort of knvies, etc. etc... "Or any other particularly harmful weapon that does not have an 'honorable' use or can be seen as being violent articles (lit. 'violence products')".

...Except crossbows. You can own and operate a crossbow if you fulfill the standards of age, sobriety and responsibility, and get permission from your local police chief.


Also, technically you can kind of loophole it by carrying a tool of some sort, since it fills an "honorable" use. Bouncers and doormen (almost wrote doorknobs) seem to go for those nice heavy MagLite flashlights for their improvised weapons. So, wooden self-defense pocket sticks or some pepperspray? Illegal. Steel wrench? Yeah, sure.
(note: As with most laws here, there's a lot of interpretation being done by the legal system... If you're out on the town with a hammer in your pocket, nobody's going to let you off because it "serves a purpose". Probably).

Laws, man...

But crossbows were banned by the pope! You'd be excommunicated if you used one! Checkmate!

Which is a moot point if you are not catholic. And according to the wiki 71.5% Norwegians are Lutheran.

The worst part about weapon restricting laws is, that they tend to be contraproductive.
In order for such law to be effective either:
A) The weapon being restricted has to be difficult to obtain illegaly.
or
B) The sentence for owning it has to be worse than the sentence for crimes commonly commited with its use.

If neither is true, then people intending to commit crimes have no reason not to get it. If they get caught with it, it will not be much worse than getting caught without it in those circumstances.

On the other hand, people, who intend to obey the law will not have such weapon and will be at a disadvantage against someone with it.

Oh, and "particularly harmful" weapons with no use other than fighting can be created pretty easily.

You make a good point, but why did you put the comma there?

[smjjames]

So, according to Norwegian law, it is strictly illegal to own or use weapons such as blowpipes (for the firing of darts or other objects), slingshots (particularly funny because the Norwegian word for such can be directly translated to "bouncy pea"), electroshock weapons like Tasers (ranged or touch), pepperspray, "fighting gloves" (not sure what this means, specifically), shuriken, any sort of knvies, etc. etc... "Or any other particularly harmful weapon that does not have an 'honorable' use or can be seen as being violent articles (lit. 'violence products')".

...Except crossbows. You can own and operate a crossbow if you fulfill the standards of age, sobriety and responsibility, and get permission from your local police chief.


Also, technically you can kind of loophole it by carrying a tool of some sort, since it fills an "honorable" use. Bouncers and doormen (almost wrote doorknobs) seem to go for those nice heavy MagLite flashlights for their improvised weapons. So, wooden self-defense pocket sticks or some pepperspray? Illegal. Steel wrench? Yeah, sure.
(note: As with most laws here, there's a lot of interpretation being done by the legal system... If you're out on the town with a hammer in your pocket, nobody's going to let you off because it "serves a purpose". Probably).

Laws, man...

But crossbows were banned by the pope! You'd be excommunicated if you used one! Checkmate!

Which is a moot point if you are not catholic. And according to the wiki 71.5% Norwegians are Lutheran.

The worst part about weapon restricting laws is, that they tend to be contraproductive.
In order for such law to be effective either:
A) The weapon being restricted has to be difficult to obtain illegaly.
or
B) The sentence for owning it has to be worse than the sentence for crimes commonly commited with its use.

If neither is true, then people intending to commit crimes have no reason not to get it. If they get caught with it, it will not be much worse than getting caught without it in those circumstances.

On the other hand, people, who intend to obey the law will not have such weapon and will be at a disadvantage against someone with it.

Oh, and "particularly harmful" weapons with no use other than fighting can be created pretty easily.

You make a good point, but why did you put the comma there?

Putting the comma where?

[hector13]

Between is and that.

[Kagus]

So, according to Norwegian law, it is strictly illegal to own or use weapons such as blowpipes (for the firing of darts or other objects), slingshots (particularly funny because the Norwegian word for such can be directly translated to "bouncy pea"), electroshock weapons like Tasers (ranged or touch), pepperspray, "fighting gloves" (not sure what this means, specifically), shuriken, any sort of knvies, etc. etc... "Or any other particularly harmful weapon that does not have an 'honorable' use or can be seen as being violent articles (lit. 'violence products')".

...Except crossbows. You can own and operate a crossbow if you fulfill the standards of age, sobriety and responsibility, and get permission from your local police chief.


Also, technically you can kind of loophole it by carrying a tool of some sort, since it fills an "honorable" use. Bouncers and doormen (almost wrote doorknobs) seem to go for those nice heavy MagLite flashlights for their improvised weapons. So, wooden self-defense pocket sticks or some pepperspray? Illegal. Steel wrench? Yeah, sure.
(note: As with most laws here, there's a lot of interpretation being done by the legal system... If you're out on the town with a hammer in your pocket, nobody's going to let you off because it "serves a purpose". Probably).

Laws, man...

So, If I ever go to Norway, I should get a tanto. The most common weapon, with which was Seppuku (honorable suicide) commited.
Or a bat'leth, or epee for honor duels. Wait, do swords count as knives?

Or I could just get any melee weapon and claim that self-defence is honorable use. Defining "honorable" is dificult.

Edit: Wait, it is illegal to own any sort of knives? How are you supposed to cut food?
        ((italics are edited in))

"Honorable" doesn't strictly mean "pertaining to honor" in this case, it's more just "practical, non-violent use". And there are plenty of kitchen/hunting/fishing knives because those serve "practical" uses. But, again... If you're carrying a kitchen knife out around town, you will be locked up in no time.

Norway has a lot of stabbings. Just... Bizarre, unplanned, random stabbings on the street. As such, knives are very strictly controlled items. If you're out and about with anything vaguely knife-shaped or that contains the qualities "stabby" or "slicey", you will very quickly find yourself explaining things to some very disgruntled cops.


Also, 71.5% Lutheran isn't entirely correct. 71.5% of the population is registered as a member of the Norwegian Lutheran Church, which is an opt-out organization. Most folks automatically get registered as members upon birth, and as the church really never does anything... A lot of them will grow up without even knowing that they're technically a member.

I'd say that most people are actually either atheist or agnostic, but there are still plenty of Lutherans. Don't have any numbers on that though, purely anecdotal.

[JoshuaFH]

What's with all the stabbings Kagus? What are you Norwegians doing over there?

In my own WTF, my favored biking route has been beset by a plague of millions of insects. I can't really identify them, they're just small, seemingly harmless bugs lingering around the riverside area... but there's fucking millions and millions of them. Noone can even get close without being engulfed in the swarm of them. Jesus Christ nature, just stop it, we get it, just stop.

[Kagus]

What's with all the stabbings Kagus? What are you Norwegians doing over there?

Binge drinking and amphetamines, mostly.

[Mathel]

Between is and that.

In my native language there would be a comma there. I must have gotten confused.

So, according to Norwegian law, it is strictly illegal to own or use weapons such as blowpipes (for the firing of darts or other objects), slingshots (particularly funny because the Norwegian word for such can be directly translated to "bouncy pea"), electroshock weapons like Tasers (ranged or touch), pepperspray, "fighting gloves" (not sure what this means, specifically), shuriken, any sort of knvies, etc. etc... "Or any other particularly harmful weapon that does not have an 'honorable' use or can be seen as being violent articles (lit. 'violence products')".

...Except crossbows. You can own and operate a crossbow if you fulfill the standards of age, sobriety and responsibility, and get permission from your local police chief.


Also, technically you can kind of loophole it by carrying a tool of some sort, since it fills an "honorable" use. Bouncers and doormen (almost wrote doorknobs) seem to go for those nice heavy MagLite flashlights for their improvised weapons. So, wooden self-defense pocket sticks or some pepperspray? Illegal. Steel wrench? Yeah, sure.
(note: As with most laws here, there's a lot of interpretation being done by the legal system... If you're out on the town with a hammer in your pocket, nobody's going to let you off because it "serves a purpose". Probably).

Laws, man...

So, If I ever go to Norway, I should get a tanto. The most common weapon, with which was Seppuku (honorable suicide) commited.
Or a bat'leth, or epee for honor duels. Wait, do swords count as knives?

Or I could just get any melee weapon and claim that self-defence is honorable use. Defining "honorable" is dificult.

Edit: Wait, it is illegal to own any sort of knives? How are you supposed to cut food?
        ((italics are edited in))

"Honorable" doesn't strictly mean "pertaining to honor" in this case, it's more just "practical, non-violent use". And there are plenty of kitchen/hunting/fishing knives because those serve "practical" uses. But, again... If you're carrying a kitchen knife out around town, you will be locked up in no time.

Norway has a lot of stabbings. Just... Bizarre, unplanned, random stabbings on the street. As such, knives are very strictly controlled items. If you're out and about with anything vaguely knife-shaped or that contains the qualities "stabby" or "slicey", you will very quickly find yourself explaining things to some very disgruntled cops.


Also, 71.5% Lutheran isn't entirely correct. 71.5% of the population is registered as a member of the Norwegian Lutheran Church, which is an opt-out organization. Most folks automatically get registered as members upon birth, and as the church really never does anything... A lot of them will grow up without even knowing that they're technically a member.

I'd say that most people are actually either atheist or agnostic, but there are still plenty of Lutherans. Don't have any numbers on that though, purely anecdotal.

I concede that honorable probably meant non-violent.

I had no idea idea about Lutheran being official religion of Norway. But my point that they are not catholics (those would probably care enough to leave) still stands.

With knives, the problem is wording

it is strictly illegal to own or use weapons such as blowpipes (for the firing of darts or other objects), slingshots (particularly funny because the Norwegian word for such can be directly translated to "bouncy pea"), electroshock weapons like Tasers (ranged or touch), pepperspray, "fighting gloves" (not sure what this means, specifically), shuriken, any sort of knvies, etc. etc... "Or any other particularly harmful weapon that does not have an 'honorable' use or can be seen as being violent articles (lit. 'violence products')".

(I am just going to assume you meant knives)

The wording means, that the police could arrest you on the grounds that you own a knife which is a weapon. As almost any knife is usable as a weapon and almost anyone owns a knife that is (Such as knives used in meal preparations), they can arrest anyone.

Note also the part at the end. 

"Or any other particularly harmful weapon that does not have an 'honorable' use or can be seen as being violent articles (lit. 'violence products')".

The implication is, that all objects in the last listing of objects have no 'honorable use' or can be seen as violent articles.

If it was supposed to be a filter on the list, the wording should be as follows.

it is strictly illegal to own or use weapons such as blowpipes (for the firing of darts or other objects), slingshots (particularly funny because the Norwegian word for such can be directly translated to "bouncy pea"), electroshock weapons like Tasers (ranged or touch), pepperspray, "fighting gloves" (not sure what this means, specifically), shuriken, any sort of knives, etc. etc..., or any other particularly harmful weapon, unless such object has a honorable use and is not a violent article.

[NJW2000]

Chainsaws however would be fiiiiiiiine 

[smjjames]

@mathel: I see no difference from the highlighted text vs what you say the wording should be. Other than the typo correction.

Edit: nvm, was paying to the wrong part that you were bringing attention to.

[Mathel]

The difference is mostly the comma before "unless". It ends the list, allowing the clauses to filter the whole list, rather than modifying the last element which by using the word "other" implies all its attributes onto all previous elements.

[Kagus]

--snip--

Yeah, that's a bad on my part. The law itself only specifically mentions "springknives, 'batanga knives' (balisong/butterfly knife) and stilettos", for knives.

The whole passage, translated as best I can, reads as such:

"It is forbidden to acquire, own or possess electroshock weapons, pepperspray and other self-defense means with similar effect, springknives, batanga knives, stilettos, fighting gloves, batons, karate sticks, throwing stars, blowpipes for the launching of darts or other objects, slingshots or other equivalent specifically dangerous objects without reputable purpose and that give the impression of being articles of violence.

This decision does not apply to weapons that are destined for or assigned to the police force or military."

Then there's the exception about crossbows, which a friend of mine was particularly interested in. He kept talking about wanting to bring a crossbow back from the US when he was visiting.

[smjjames]

What about regular bows? The exception for crossbows is certainly a bit odd. Don’t entirely get the ban on pepper spray (or similar), unless they just don’t want it to get used against police. The taser one seems to be in a similar rationality.

[Kagus]

What about regular bows? The exception for crossbows is certainly a bit odd. Don’t entirely get the ban on pepper spray (or similar), unless they just don’t want it to get used against police. The taser one seems to be in a similar rationality.

As for regular bows, it's... Tricky. I'm having a little difficulty finding a clear answer. As far as interpretations go, some people say "yes, it's a weapon" while others say "no, it's a toy". For legal documents themselves, I'm having a dickens of a time qualifying and dating the precious few things that pop up... Or, rather, having a hard time finding the motivation to do so. God damn, lawyers use a lot of paper to say very little.

Regardless, it is illegal to hunt with bow and arrow in Norway, so you're probably gonna have a hard time explaining why you have one.


As for pepperspray/tasers, yeah. It's either a matter of them getting used against the cops, or it's a matter of the nanny state just assuming that we'd probably put our eye out if they let us play with things like that. Probably the vs. police argument, but you can never really tell with Norway.

This leads me to a story about meeting the father-in-law of one of my old school friends. The fellow took a liking to me rather quickly, and was deeply excited about having someone with an interest in guns (and a bit of military experience) to show off his collection to. He had a couple high-powered carbon nanotube hunting rifles (perfectly legal, although it's expensive as all hell to go through the registration process for each weapon, not to mention a mountain of paperwork), a basic 9mm for the firing range, and a Nazi-produced .45 pistol with the worn-down Reichsadler etching still visible if you looked at it closely.

Later, encouraged by my attention and curiosity, he showed me "a little secret, just between us", which was a self-defense pistol that fired teargas capsules slightly larger than a pea. The capsules would break apart upon hitting clothing, and the gas would then irritate and hopefully discourage any would-be assailants.

Of all the weapons he'd shown me, this was the only one that was illegal to own. The non-lethal one. I found that kinda funny.