Anyone know where one might find information about the legality of exporting firearms for personal use to foreign countries? Specifically, I’m looking at studying overseas for several years, and it’d be nice to bring the guns along.
I’d imagine the Swiss are pretty open about such things so long as the proper procedures are followed. I suspect the other European countries aren’t quite so gun-friendly. Anyone know for sure?? Links to official regulations would be helpful.
To be specific, I have a few handguns (9mm, .45, and .22), a few rifles (M1 Garand, two AR-15s, and a 10-22), and a Mossberg pump-action shotgun.
I would imagine the US would want to know about such exporting as well.
Not sure how they’d treat NFA items, as I have a silencer for the .22s as well.
Advice would be most welcome.
Also relevant would be information on storing these firearms in the US with friends. The guns will not likely be a problem, but I know the ATF has various rules about storing NFA items in that one must store it in a manner inaccessible to the people who are storing it. I suspect that a safe deposit box might be workable, even though they technically don’t allow one to store firearms there.
Month: November 2010
On Graduate Schools
I’m looking at graduate schools overseas, including schools in Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK, Australia, and Switzerland.
Any readers study overseas? If so, any advice would be most welcome.
I’ve been focusing on Swiss universities due to their proximity to CERN, as well as being quite enthralled with the country, the cities, and the people when I traveled there in the past. Gorgeous country, and it looks like a great place to live and study. It looks like there’s a not-insubstantial amount of paperwork to study there (let alone work there), but I imagine that’s pretty common and not a huge hurdle to overcome. Any advice with dealing with it? I imagine the local consulate is a good place to get information, but I figure that some people have more advice.
I’ve got a friend in Sweden who can help out with some aspects of moving and settling in (e.g. getting a phone, driver’s license, get acclimated to things, etc.), but things are different for foreigners than residents in many places, and I’d hate to screw things up in some way.
Moving domestically is hard enough. Moving internationally is likely to be a bit harder. Fortunately, I’m not the only prospective grad student to consider studying overseas, so I’m sure there’s procedures and whatnot. Now, I just need to start getting applications out…
On Pens
I loathe crappy pens.
Only problem: I lose pens all the time, so losing expensive fountain pens and the like is a pain.
I’ve made up for this by buying disposable fountain pens like the Pilot Varsity, but those have trouble on certain types of paper.
The best inexpensive ballpoint I’ve written with is the $1.50 Pilot G2. I’ve never had issues with smearing (I’m left-handed), it writes smoothly and consistently, and it’s cheap enough that I don’t cry if I lose it. Basic Bic pens almost always work (but the knockoff ones suck), but I prefer the retractable point on the G2.
Thanks to the internet, I recently discovered — to my immense glee — that Mont Blanc rollerball refills fit in the G2 barrel with only a slight bit of filing on the plastic cap opposite of the point. Once about 1/8″ of material is removed, it fits perfectly. My main G2 needed a refill last night after a substantial amount of writing, so I bought a pair of the Mont Blanc refills as well as a 12-pack of new G2s (just in case). The Mont Blanc refills were only about $12 for a pair, so now I have a $7.50 pen that writes as well as a $200+ fancy pen. While losing a $7.50 pen is a bit more of a hassle than losing a $1.50 pen, at least I’m not losing something really expensive. If so, I do have spares.
Since the Mont Blanc refills apparently last longer than the G2 refills (gel pens go through ink like crazy, while the Mont Blanc refills are designed to write for 10,000 meters), I may end up actually saving money this way. We’ll see.