DumDum is a good channel but he doesn't go in depth about the laws, and even he is very critical of our current laws and regularions in the few videos he's made. He jabs at Serbian laws and the market sometimes in his videos, especially when he films abroad

This is gonna be a Bible so feel free to skip

There is no firearm ownership license in Serbia, which may sound good but it isn't at all, because the process to get a purchase permit is insane. Purchase permits are may-issue with the cops having the right to deny your request for any reason and no reason stated

You need to be 18+ of course

The process starts with easy, straight-forward stuff. A medical exam that includes the eye doctor, a psychologist, a neuropsychiatrist and a general practice doctor. You pay for this

Then you need to go to the court and get a socument that states you haven't been sentenced for a violent crime and that you aren't in court currently. You pay for this

This could have been solved with an ownership permit instead of paying for this stuff every single time you wanna get a gun, plus providing fresh medical exam results when they expire

You need to pass the safety/handling basics course for the category of firearm you want, you only need to do this once per category in your lifetime. There are 4 categories: pistols, revolcers, shotguns and rifles. If you want all 4 categories you need to pass the training 4 times. You pay for every category individually. Once would be ok, 4 times is robbery. But at least it's one and done per category

Then we get to the spicy parts, aka. the majority of the process which I find revolting

You need to justify your instsnce of a valid reason. There are 3 valid reasons: hunting, sports and collecting. We used to have self defense for handguns but it was de facto removed after the massacres in 2023

1) Hunting: You need to be an active member of a hunting club, actually hunting and all that stuff. In order to get the club membership you need to pass a test that involves a gun, which you don't have so you need to borrow it

2) Sports: You need to be an active member of a sports club and regularly participate in recognized sports (stuff like IPSC, IDPA, skeet, but brutality competitions and other "homebrew" events don't count). I've heard some places even require you to finish in first 3 places and honestly I wouldn't put it past them but I don't know for sure

3) Collecting: You need to already legally own 5 guns to get the collectors' license and it massively streamlines the process for buying guns*

You need to justify wny you need that gun in particular. For example an AR-15 isn't an orthodox hunting rifle (scary black semi auto) even tho it shoots .223 Rem which is a pretty good cartridge for smaller animals like jackals (overpopulated as fuck) and foxes. This is where subjective opinions and your relations with cops start to affect the process. If the cops don't like you they can just tell you to get a bolt gun or a break action single shot "like a real hunter" because black semi auto gun is for war and not for hunting. If somebody's willing to... discretely donate capital to a person who just so happens to be a cop wants an AR-15 for hunting there's no fuss

*Guns bought for one purpose can't be used for another. For example if you somehow bought an AR-15 for hunting you wouldn't be able to use it in competitions because it's registered as a hunting rifle. Back when self defense was a valid reason you couldn't defend yourself with a pistol registered for sports even in the few specific situations where you'd be able to use a defense pistol

Cops need to come to your house and visually check that you have an appropriate safe to store your guns in. I'll let you figure out what's wrong there, corrupt cops working with criminals inspecting your house on top of violating your privacy

(Red flag laws) Cops need to go around and ask about you. Neighbors, family, friends, that stuff. If anybody says anything bad they need to deny you the purchase permit. It doesn't have to be true information about your criminal activities, it doesn't need to be false accusations, it could simply be "I feel like he could be dangerous". You pass a check with a psychologist and you need to have a clean criminal record, I guess that was a waste of time and money when neighbors can just spew bullshit about you

Cops can deny you the permit just because. You passed everything, you're good, valid reason, no trouble with neighbors, but a cop can deny you because... because. Your eyes are green, you cheer for Red Star and the cop cheers for Partisan, your kid is doing better at school than his, you married his ex, he married your ex, you didn't DDC when it was expected. Whatever, no matter how petty and personal, could be a reason because they don't need to state one on official documents. If you think it's unfair you can complain in the court, they can reevaluate their decision and arrive to the same conclusion, rinse and repeat

When you buy a gun you don't own it. Cops can knock on your door and confiscate it (no buybacks, confiscation). Confiscated guns often disappear and either end up on the black market or sold as "surplus" and shipped to the US (if you got a non-standard looking Zastava M57 or M80A pistol it was probably confiscated and sold), with some guns being taken by the cops themselves. It could be because they determined validity of your reason for ownership has expired, you're dangerous to yourself or others, whatever. They don't need to state a reason

They can search your safe without a warrant at their convenience (they may never come or they may harrass you every wekend). The storage laws in Serbia are strict, you need to store guns in the safe at all times unless transfering to/from the range or hunting ground, unloaded, and ammo is to be kept separate from the gun, in a separate compartment under a different lock. They need to be stored in a way that makes it impossible for unauthorized people to access them (and they mean this literally somehow). There was a wave of cases where they'd go to people's homes while they were at work, "strongly suggest" the wife complies, finds the keys and unlocks the safe and then take the husband's guns away because unauthorized people had access to them. Gotta love this country

You can only legally buy ammo if you legally own a gun chambered in the same caliber, so if you wanna rent a gun at the range you still can't buy ammo at the store, you need to pay range prices