This was an eye opener and I find myself thankful that I am ornery enough that I do not take visiting kin or friends to the range because they don’t come over.
What’s more, if you take someone to a range knowing that they are, say, a U.K. citizen here on a student visa, or an Indian citizen here for a short trip, you are yourself likely committing the crime of aiding and abetting that person’s illegal gun possession, or of conspiring with that person to illegally possess a gun. And that’s so even if you don’t know the conduct is illegal, so long as you know about the person’s immigration status.
Many Foreign Tourists—and Most Foreign Students—Are Barred from Going to Shooting Ranges
Knowing this is important for us in the immigrant community. Friends and relatives come to visit you in America, Land of the Free and Guns and they want to have a taste of what we missed back home: Shooting a gun without the fear of going to jail or going to the morgue. And by God, you are more than willing to show them a good time because they are in ‘Murica! now and you want the to shoot anything and everything you own.
Now we know better.
There is one way not to incur in the Federal wrath:
There are, though, some exception to the nonimmigrant alien possession ban, in subsection (y)(2) of the statute; they are chiefly for certain foreign officials, for aliens “admitted to the United States for lawful hunting or sporting purposes,” or for aliens who are “in possession of a hunting license or permit lawfully issued in the United States.”
Some states, Florida included, allow you to get a hunting license online, but they are not cheap. A Florida Nonresident Annual Hunting License goes for $151.50 each, and even the Nonresident 10-Day Hunting License will set you back $46.50 per person. I am a cheap bastard so my relatives get to play with Nerf guns but only if they buy them.
One more tidbit of information for your bag of tricks courtesy of Kevin Creighton via Facebook
NH also has non-resident hunting licenses. Their website says a non-resident hunting license costs $113, but a “small game” license is cheaper: $53.
An interesting wrinkle related to this: NH has constitutional carry for any “resident, nonresident, or alien if that individual is not otherwise prohibited by statute from possessing a firearm in the state of New Hampshire”. So that seems to say a foreign student who has a NH hunting license can carry in NH. Neat.
‘Generally, “nonimmigrant aliens” are tourists, students, business travelers, and temporary workers who enter the U.S. for fixed periods of time; they are lawfully admitted aliens who are not lawful permanent residents. In order to meet the definition of a nonimmigrant alien, the individual MUST hold a nonimmigrant visa. The definition does NOT include permanent resident aliens, aliens legally admitted to the U.S. with a visa other than a nonimmigrant visa, or aliens legally admitted to the U.S. without a visa’
If memory serves, most EU countries have ‘no visa’ compact with the US for short trips. Thus, I guess, a friend from France is most probably range-Ok, but one from, say, Kazakhstan, not so much.
Went to check if my behind is in hot water. Nope, all clear 🙂
No need for hunting license if visitors came without visa from
Andorra
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brunei
Chile
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Monaco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Portugal
San Marino
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan*
United Kingdom**
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visa-waiver-program.html
A
Visiting from Australia in 2017 I was told NO to shooting in Florida without getting hunting licence, big no in Washington state due to transfer laws but could and did shoot in California. No problem in Arizona or New Mexico or Canada.
I can take anyone 11 and above to range in Australia with me and if over 18 you can take yourself and hire firearm. Our gun laws are restrictive but lots worse for visitors in much of USA.
My back lot is 1000′ from the road, up hill almost 100′ in elevation, through pretty dense woods. What happens back there is unknown to anyone passing by, and the town echos with gunfire every weekend. There are two official ranges in town, and MANY backyard ranges, so I am not worried about breaking federal law. After all, I am already a paper felon for the Armed Civil Disobedience.
Captain,
Stay safe 🙂
RCC
Thank you for reminding me about state laws.
Strangely, my severely anti-2A state does not appear to put additional restrictions on my guests at the range. They cannot buy ammo or rent w/o state license, but as my guests, they can use whatever I give them, with me being responsible for their abiding by the rules.
In the same vein, I have seen many young kids at the range, 7-8 y. o, safe and enjoying ripping the paper.
Luckily, I only have a small number of “friends” that live overseas. Most of them lived a good portion of their lives under the umbrella of communism, courtesy of the Soviet Union. Therefore, the next time they come to visit, I will be sure to allow them to shoot, since where I live EVERYONE shoots on their own property.
This is interesting. What would it mean for the so called “machine gun tourism” popular in many places?
I work with a decent amount of international students and PIs and range trips almost always come up as a requested treat this is one heck of a head scratcher. How would one determine if someone is in violation of this and to what end.
I was about to mention that. Japanese people pay big money to go to Guam or Hawaii to shoot guns.
Some laws are just made to be broken.