Gun Ownership in Argentina

I received an e-mail from a reader with about 5 or 6 questions. I'm going to address each one over the next few days as blog entries so that people have the benefit of understanding how things work here. The first one was related to gun ownership.

Reader's Question

It seemed to me that weapon ownership was almost demanded of the citizens. Is this true? Are there lots of laws against certain people having the weapons; with special licenses, photos, DNA samples and fees needed?

The Gun Ownership Process

At first I was going to plead ignorance to this question, since I've never owned a gun in my life, but I asked a friend who knew the answer, so here is the process:

1. Pass a psychological test
2. Provide fingerprints and proof of no criminal records
3. Pass a shooting test
4. Provide an income statement
5. Present your DNI and fill out an application form
6. In 20 days the government gives you a license as a gun user
7. With your license, you can then purchase a firearm.
8. There is a 15 day waiting period while the serial number of your gun is matched to your gun user's license number in a central database. Anonymous gun ownership is not permitted. All guns are registered.
9. After this 15 day waiting period, you can take your gun home and the process is finished.

There's the process right there. Only foreigners with legal temporary or permanent residency who have a DNI may purchase a gun. If you don't have legal residency, you will not be allowed to purchase a gun. Other than that, there are no other restrictions on foreigners owning guns.