I just read your post Wayne, I missed him apparently. Your friend is wright! Most people here love dogs, but are not gun friendly.

You can own guns in our country, including handguns (it isn't as bad as England where they have a handgun ban). You can have them in your house, but you have to have the ammunition separated from the firearms. Ammunition and guns need to be in a vault that is attached to the wall, or weighs more then 200 kilograms. You have to drive the shortest route to the shooting range, when you have weapons/munition with you. Ones every year you get an unannounced visit from the police, to look if you store your guns and ammunition in the proper way. You can own 5 guns per person (more when you are also a hunter) but no fully automatic firearms, only semi auto. So owning a Sig P226 or a AR-15 rifle for example is legal.

You have to go a minimum of 18 times a year to the shooting range. This is to "prove" that you have your guns, for the only reason a civilian can own a gun in the Netherlands, and that is for competition shooting. This way the government is trying to make it difficult for people who want a gun for home defense. They are probably less likely, to go true al the trouble for a nightstand gun.

You have to be a member of a shooting range and can obtain your first gun, after a membership period of 18 months. After another year you can own 4 more. You need the approval of the membership board that you are safe when handling firearms. You have to take part in 5 shooting competitions a year. Every time you shoot gets registered. You can't have a criminal record or have people living with you that do. Every year you have to go to the police and get your permit renewed. You can reload your own ammunition, but you have to be registered as such.

I hope I can keep enjoying the hobby in the future, because a lot of civilians like I said, think guns need to be owned exclusively by the military and police. We have a lot more shootings in the big cities the last decade or so. They are all done with illegally obtained firearms, but that doesn't seem to matter to some people... We had one incident 7 years ago, that a schizophrenic man killed 6 people and himself with legally obtained guns. After that one time terrible event, we were all afraid that the government would forbid owning guns. They didn't do that but made more rules. It was a close call for us and I think if something like that ever happens again (knock on wood) there is a good possibility that one of my favorite hobby's comes to an end...