SpudFiles

legally what is it.. airgun or fire-arm.. I know that it uses hydrogen to shoot projectile , but it also uses explosive power to compress the hydrogen.
problem is that I live in Finland and airguns are legal here, but guns that use explosive or combustion gas to shoot projectile need permissions..


I want to build lightgasgun, but I dont know if its legal

If you propel the piston with a combusting fuel it will be viewed as a firearm there. If the power comes from a compressed gas it will be classed as an air rifle.

I suppose it's no use arguing that the propellant gasses don't come in contact with the projectile because in that case a shotgun is technically not a firearm either

Just scanned the Finnish gun regulations on wiki. I'm sure you, RDX, are more familiar than I am, but it says that Gas guns are firearms that use a gas cartridge and nothing else. I'm not sure if spudguns would fall under this category since you're having to fill a chamber with gas. I think it's open to interpretation, but I'd definitely check into it if I were you, just to be sure.

A pneumatic would currently count as an airgun under Finnish law, as it does not use a cartridge. However, they are contemplating increased regulation of high powered airguns (which, by most countries' standards, any worthwhile launcher is).

A conventional LGG... Well, you may be lucky:
"The following tools are not deemed firearms unless they can, without special knowledge and
skills, be converted into tools with which bullets or pellets can be fired so that it may cause
danger to people:
1) nail machines designed and manufactured to be used in construction work;
2) tools designed and manufactured to be used in life-saving or for a scientific or industrial
purpose of use."

It could be argued convincingly in court that an LGG (which takes a long time to load, weighs hundreds of pounds, and needs machine work after every shot) could not be converted so as to cause danger to people without enough effort that it could just as easily be melted down and started from raw materials. Also, the scientific association of LGGs, especially with spacecraft development and materials science, could be used in your favour.

That, combined with telling no one and using it in such a way that it is never noticed (firing indoors with a containment vessel, for example), would result in almost complete legal safety unless you do something stupid such as committing a violent crime.

DYI wrote:Also, the scientific association of LGGs, especially with spacecraft development and materials science, could be used in your favour.

Of course, their use in the research of nuclear weapons could be problematic.

Of course, their use in the research of nuclear weapons could be problematic.

Well, here's hoping that his prosecutor isn't too well informed.

Anyway, it still wouldn't fall into the category of firearm, even if he was charged with building weapons of mass destruction...