Hungarians queue for guns for fear of disorder as coronavirus spreads

[snoop1130]

Hungarians queue for guns for fear of disorder as coronavirus spreads

By Marton Dunai, Bernadett Szabo

 

Gas pistols are displayed at a Hungarian gun shop where people queued up to buy weapons for protection amid the coronavirus pandemic, in Budapest, Hungary, March 20, 2020. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

 

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Peter Rostas doesn’t want to have any reason to use the gun he was buying, but the young Hungarian father of one was taking no chances with a coronavirus epidemic he fears may bring out the worst in some people.

 

“It’s a precautionary measure,” Rostas, 33, said as he queued outside a small Budapest shop selling non-military grade weapons that require no licence. “I’d rather be laughing later than find myself in a conflict with nothing but a broomstick.”

 

Hungarians have sought in increasing number to arm themselves for protection in recent weeks, fearing a possible unravelling of law and order if severe shortages set in as the coronavirus pandemic spreads.

 

Gun controls are tight in eastern Europe as across the rest of the continent, but demand for small arms amid growing anxiety over coronavirus has risen elsewhere in the region. The Czech arms manufacturers association said shop owners had reported rising demand and a double-digit rise in sales.

 

About 300,000 people hold licenses for guns in each of the Czech Republic and Hungary, both with about 10 million inhabitants. Licenses are not mandatory for some light arms.

 

“We are selling five times as much as in a normal March,” said Gabor Vass, who runs three gun shops in the Hungarian capital including the one where Rostas bought his gas pistol.

 

“We could sell 15 times more if we had any more rubber bullet weapons, but we ran out.”

 

The shop, little bigger than a phone booth and tucked inside a suburban shopping centre on the edge of Budapest, was hardly designed for an onrush of customers. But last week brought a heavy stream, people from all walks of life.

 

Hungary has registered 167 cases of coronavirus, with seven deaths, but Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Monday the true number was probably much higher.

 

“REASSURING” TO HAVE GUN AT HOME

 

Rostas fears violence could arise from shortages of essential goods, something the Hungarian government has insisted will not happen. But the stocky auto trader is sceptical.

 

“If people brawl over toilet paper now, what will they do later? Once shops run out of stock, people will take what they need. Police can hardly deal with every petty theft,” he said.

 

“I’m not planning to kill anyone, but it is reassuring to have a weapon at home.”

 

Vass, the gun shop owner, said even small weapons not requiring a license were very dangerous in the wrong hands, given that even non-combat gas pistols can be lethal at close range, and the interest does not stop there.

 

“People have gone nuts,” he said. “They gobble up anything they don’t need a licence for. Gas pistols, rubber bullet guns, and even things like crossbows, which can harm you seriously.”

 

Hungarian police and the government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

 

Gun and ammunition sales have also jumped across the United States amid fears of social breakdown as the pandemic worsens.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-23

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[rasmus5150]

At least in this case the Americans are 100% ready. Armed to the teeth, and aching for some burglar to pick their home, so they can pump him full of lead.......

 

Did not know that Gas Guns were that effective..... I've only been bruised when hit by a paint ball or hard ball bullet. Guess the Hungarians has more BAR in their guns.

[Puchaiyank]

Next thing you know...Thais will be lining up to purchase guns for personal protection...

 

Don't bother if you are not Thai...been illegal for foreigners to own firearms since 2017...

 

Make sure your wife will loan you one of hers...????

[sanemax]

In America Donald  Trump thinks..............................blah blah blah

(Hoped to be the first one in , seems I;m not quick enough) 

[pegman]

Who do they think they are Americans?

[White Christmas13]

4 minutes ago, sanemax said:

In America Donald  Trump thinks..............................blah blah blah

(Hoped to be the first one in , seems I;m not quick enough) 

Sick again

[sanemax]

1 minute ago, White Christmas13 said:

Sick again

Too vague , I dont understand your post 

[Davo369]

The way things are going, I'm gonna buy a tank... 

Just to do my food shopping 

[Opl]

crisis reveal people at their worst

[Davo369]

Fxxk it.... apache helicopter 

[Cryingdick]

They are buying C02 and BB guns? LOL Freeze right there or I might even break your skin!!!. 

[rvaviator]

15 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

They are buying C02 and BB guns? LOL Freeze right there or I might even break your skin!!!. 

Maybe they all are good shots ...Going for the eye at close range ...

[OKF]

there are quite effictive CO2 guns though which have some 50-70 joule in the end

[Cryingdick]

1 minute ago, OKF said:

there are quite effictive CO2 guns though which have some 50-70 joule in the end

 

They wouldn't go through a decent piece of denim or even a cheap leather coat. As years went by and More Hungarians became armed corrugated cardboard became the body armor of the common man.

Edited March 24, 2020 by Cryingdick

[apophyss]

Just a virus, and people get back to animals...

[Nyezhov]

16 hours ago, rasmus5150 said:

At least in this case the Americans are 100% ready. Armed to the teeth, and aching for some burglar to pick their home, so they can pump him full of lead.......

Nothing makes a red blooded American happier than removing some murderous felonious idiot burglar from the gene pool. A right that has existed from time immemorial,per Blackstone, see https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/blackstone_bk4ch16.asp :

 

"BURGLARY, or nocturnal houfebreaking, burgi latrocinium, which by our antient law was called hamefecken, as it is in Scotland to this day, has always been looked upon as a very heinous offence: not only becuafe of the abundant terror that it naturally carries with it, but alfo as it is a forcible invafion and difturbance of that right of habitation, which every individual might acquire even in a ftate of nature;..... in civil fociety, the laws alfo come in to the affiftance of the weaker party: and, befides that they leave him this natural right of killing the aggreffor, if he can........... they alfo protect and avenge him, in cafe the might of the affailant is too powerful. And the law of England has fo particular and tender a regard to the immunity of a man's houfe, that it ftiles it his caftle, and will never fuffer it to be violated with impunity........"

13 hours ago, Opl said:

crisis reveal people at their worst

In the case of a person buying a gun to defend himself and his family, and maybe even his defenseless nieghbors, it reveals them at their smartest and most heroic.

 

Kudos to the Hungarians.

[chilli42]

I get it.  Should things get really bad one can foresee roving gangs of thugs attacking houses for food, valuables and rape.  Enough of this on the nightly news to not see this as too far fetched.  If on a wide enough scale, no way for the Police contain it.  As for myself I would feel a lot more secure at home in Canada where I maintain 6 months of food supplies and a couple of safes full of guns.  As it is, my wife has a .22 pistol ... useless when not backed up by something more heavy hitting.

[sangtip2]

On ‎3‎/‎24‎/‎2020 at 2:12 PM, Nyezhov said:

Nothing makes a red blooded American happier than removing some murderous felonious idiot burglar from the gene pool. A right that has existed from time immemorial,per Blackstone, see https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/blackstone_bk4ch16.asp :

 

"BURGLARY, or nocturnal houfebreaking, burgi latrocinium, which by our antient law was called hamefecken, as it is in Scotland to this day, has always been looked upon as a very heinous offence: not only becuafe of the abundant terror that it naturally carries with it, but alfo as it is a forcible invafion and difturbance of that right of habitation, which every individual might acquire even in a ftate of nature;..... in civil fociety, the laws alfo come in to the affiftance of the weaker party: and, befides that they leave him this natural right of killing the aggreffor, if he can........... they alfo protect and avenge him, in cafe the might of the affailant is too powerful. And the law of England has fo particular and tender a regard to the immunity of a man's houfe, that it ftiles it his caftle, and will never fuffer it to be violated with impunity........"

In the case of a person buying a gun to defend himself and his family, and maybe even his defenseless nieghbors, it reveals them at their smartest and most heroic.

 

Kudos to the Hungarians.

I would feel safer if I had a gun in my house.   But if  I ever had to use it the  RTP would probably make me wish I had used it on myself .     I don't think there is any "Self defense"  or "Justifiable homicide"  if a "Farang"  is involved in the use of a firearm which injured a Thai.   I know I don't have enough money to buy myself out of that .  Maybe best not to have one .