closest legal gun shop near the Midi train station
A Belgian arms dealer was responsible for supplying most of the weapons used by the gunmen who perpetrated the attacks on Paris last week that resulted in the killing of 17 people.
Apparently, the arms dealer turned himself in because he was worried of retaliation because he not only provided arms to terrorists, but apparently charged too much money. Belgium does have some large gun shows for collectors of militaria, because WWI, WWII.
A Belgian arms dealer was responsible for supplying most of the weapons used by the gunmen who perpetrated the attacks on Paris last week that resulted in the killing of 17 people. Belgian media reported that the dealer, who is a known figure in Brussels’ underworld, turned himself in to authorities on Tuesday, according to Haaretz.
Police searched the suspect’s apartment and found documents linking him to a transaction with Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who killed four people at the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Paris on Friday. Local press reports said that Coulibaly purchased the Škorpion submachine guns he used in the attack from the suspect, who was also the source of the rocket-propelled grenade launcher and Kalashnikov automatic assault rifles used by Saïd and Chérif Kouachi to kill 12 people at the Paris headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, Haaretz reported....
Coulibaly reportedly purchased the weapons near the Gare du Midi train station in Brussels for less than 5,000 euros ($5,876), reported the Telegraph. The area around the station, which serves as the Eurostar’s Belgian terminus, is known as a hub for illegal weapons sales. Civilians in France are prohibited from possessing military-style weapons unless they have a special certification as collectors. As a result, a thriving black market for these banned weapons has emerged in the country, reported Bloomberg. French police estimated that 4,000 “war weapons” were circulating in the country in 2012.
Two suspected militants have been killed in an anti-terror operation in eastern Belgium, officials say.
Prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said a third person had been arrested in the raid in Verviers, but no police or members of the public were harmed.
Mr Van der Sypt told reporters police had targeted a group returning from Syria who had been about to launch "large-scale" attacks.
Suspects had opened fire on police with assault weapons, he said....
Belgian media has reported that some of the weapons used in the attacks in Paris were bought near the Midi train station in Brussels.
However, Mr Van der Sypt said no weapons link with the Paris attacks had been established.
The attacks - on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, a kosher market and police - have heightened security fears in several European countries.
In May last year, four people were killed inside the Jewish museum in Brussels. A Frenchman of Algerian descent is in custody in Belgium over the attack.
In Belgium, only licensed gun owners may lawfully acquire, possess or transfer a firearm or ammunition
Applicants for a gun owner’s licence in Belgium are required to establish a genuine reason to possess a firearm, for example, hunting, target shooting, collection, personal protection, security
The minimum age for gun ownership in Belgium is 18 years
An applicant for a firearm licence in Belgium must pass a background check which considers criminal and various other information
In Belgium, third party character references for each gun licence applicant are not required
Where a past history, or apprehended likelihood of family violence exists, the law in Belgium does not stipulate that a gun licence should be denied or revoked
In Belgium, an understanding of firearm safety and the law, tested in a theoretical and/or practical training course is required for a firearm licence
In Belgium gun owners must re-apply and re-qualify for their firearm licence every three years for permits to carry weapons. General licences for firearm possession are issued for an undetermined period.
Licensed firearm owners in Belgium are permitted to possess 1 firearm per
Licensed firearm owners in Belgium are permitted to possess a limited quantity of ammunition
In Belgium, carrying a firearm in plain view in a public place is allowed, subject to a valid permit
Still, before one writes off the European populace as unarmed and helpless, it would be wise to consider first that there are places like Belgium where an awful lot of fairly modern guns are sold to private citizens every day, and second that two massive wars have rolled back and for across the continent, scatting munitions all along their wake. The sheer quantity of military hardware that has been simply “lost” would stagger the imagination. In the US, when it comes to older guns and material, we suffer a bit from being on a continent where none of it was really used. Everything here must have been deliberately brought across the Atlantic at some point, and that limits what you are going to find. Over in Europe, everything was made here and is just waiting to be found in an attic or storeroom. The variety of things you see here that you had never seen before is amazing.
It's not unusual for an
informal economy to exist in a country so pivotal to firearms history:
Fabrique Nationale d'Herstal (French for National Factory of Herstal) — self identified as FN Herstal and often referred to as Fabrique Nationale or simply FN — is a leading firearms manufacturer located in Herstal, Belgium, owned by the regional government of Wallonia. It is currently the largest exporter of military small arms in Europe.
FN is a subsidiary of the Belgian Herstal Group, which also owns U.S. Repeating Arms Company (Winchester) and Browning Arms Company. FN Herstal is the parent company of two United States entities: FN Manufacturing and FNH USA. FN Manufacturing, located in Columbia, South Carolina, is the manufacturing branch of FN Herstal in the United States, producing firearms such as the M249 and M240 machine guns and M16 rifle, among others. FNH USA, located in McLean, Virginia, is the sales and marketing branch of FN Herstal in the United States.
Firearms designed and/or manufactured by FN include the Browning Hi-Power pistol, Five-seven pistol, FAL rifle, FNC rifle, F2000 rifle, P90 submachine gun, M2 Browning machine gun, MAG machine gun, and Minimi machine gun —all of which have been very successful for the company. FN Herstal's firearms are used by the armed forces of over 100 nations.
Russian Sanctions Spark AK-47 Buying Frenzy In U.S.
Guns manufactured by Kalashnikov and other Russian companies make up only a small part of the U.S. gun market: Only about 200,000 Russian guns were imported to the U.S. in 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. That same year, the agency says, U.S. gun makers produced more than 8.5 million guns, not including guns produced for the military. They also imported around 4.8 million more from other countries.