Sport shooting in the Netherlands
According to the KNSA, Dutch sport shooting began around 1851, when King Willem III received thirteen sharpshooter companies at Het Loo for a royal match. The Vereeniging van Nederlandsche Scherpschutters, founded in 1890, merged in 1968 with two younger bodies, among them the air-rifle federation, into the KNSA, the only shooting body the ISSF and NOC*NSF recognise; only shooters from its clubs can be entered for European and world championships.
The KNSA has no individual members: a shooter joins a club, which registers them, and a new member of 16 or older brings a certificate of conduct (VOG) screened against eight years of records instead of the usual four. A firearm of one’s own then needs a permit (verlof) from the police chief, valid for at most a year at a time.
Gun licence in the Netherlands
- A verlof needs a year as a regular member of a KNSA-certified club and 18 schietbeurten (shooting sessions) with a firearm in the last 12 months.
- The verlof runs for at most a year; each extension needs another 18 schietbeurten, recorded in a club-signed schietregister.
- Up to five guns, and only one in the first year of your first verlof.
Federations
- KNSA ·
Targets
KNSA
The national body for Dutch shooting sport, with about 650 member clubs, schutterijen and gilden.
Sources: KNSA, “Historie” and “Fusie 3 organisaties tot KNSA”; KNSA, “Erkende autoriteit”; KNSA, “Lid worden”; KNSA, “VOG”; Justis, “Wapenverlof of jachtakte aanvragen”; KNSA, “Over KNSA”, read on .