MIĘDZY PREWENCJĄ A AUTONOMIĄ. PORÓWNAWCZE MODELE DOSTĘPU DO BRONI W WYBRANYCH PAŃSTWACH DEMOKRATYCZNYCH
BETWEEN PREVENTION AND AUTONOMY: COMPARATIVE MODELS OF FIREARMS ACCESS IN SELECTED DEMOCRATIC STATES

Summary/Abstract: This article presents a comparative analysis of models regulating access to firearms in selected democratic states - Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States - with the aim of explaining how contemporary security regimes balance institutional prevention with civic autonomy. The main research problem concerns the impact of legal, institutional, and cultural arrangements on the scope of administrative discretion and on the position of the citizen - situated between being an object of control and a co-responsible participant in the public security system. Methodologically, the article is based on a qualitative comparative analysis within a neo-institutional framework, combining a doctrinal-legal reconstruction of regulatory frameworks with an analysis of the architecture of licensing systems and secondary statistical data on civilian firearm ownership and violent crime, supplemented by a review of the literature on public security and regulatory policy. The findings lead to a typology of regulatory models - ranging from preventive - restrictive regimes, through liberal - procedural ones, to constitutional-autonomy-based approaches. The analysis demonstrates that the durability and legitimacy of regulatory systems depend less on the degree of formal restrictiveness and more on procedural coherence, transparency of decision-making criteria, and the treatment of citizens as competent partners in risk management. Against this background, the Polish system is identified as a preventive -discretionary model in which - despite the significant shift toward a bound decision model following the 2011 amendment to the Firearms and Ammunition Act - areas of interpretative ambiguity persist, particularly with regard to personal protection permits and the application of general clauses. The article concludes by indicating directions for reform that would shift firearms regulation from discretionary control toward proportionality, thereby strengthening both public security and the credibility of democratic governance.

• Details
• Contents