Anything discussing the subject of “freedom” and in the context of Hong Kong is going to be a polarizing and interesting topic, to put it lightly. With its own very long and sordid history, Hong Kong has its fair share of what we’ll lightly define as “issues” when it comes to the concept of civil liberties.

Concerning firearms in the Pearl of the Orient, they are tightly restricted. This should come as no surprise given the history behind who occupied them and when. Further, in recent times post 1997, with Hong Kong falling under Chinese rule, use your imagination on what that means for freedom. According to a Wikipedia article, we can learn the following about Hong Kong’s firearm laws:

Firearm ownership in the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau is tightly controlled and possession is mainly in the hands of law enforcement, military, or private security firms (providing protection for jewelers and banks). Still, possessing, manufacturing, importing, or exporting airsoft guns with a muzzle energy not above 2 joules (1.5 ft⋅lbf) is legal to citizens in China’s SARs.

Firearms control was inherited during British and Portuguese rule and more or less retained today. Under the Section 13 of Cap 238 Firearms and Ammunition Ordinance of the Hong Kong law, unrestricted firearms and ammunition requires a license.[13] Those found in possession without a license could be fined HKD$100,000 and imprisonment for up to 14 years.

If the United States had laws like this, it would be a dream come true for the gun grabbers in Washington! Note the interesting reoccurring theme revolving around British rule and firearm restriction. Given all that, the policy makers in Hong Kong still feel they have a gun problem. From a news.gov.hk page, we can learn a few things about their complaints:

The Government pointed out that cases involving genuine arms have increased in recent years and criminals have made use of the loophole in the existing definition of arms under the Firearms & Ammunition Ordinance to smuggle component parts of genuine firearms into Hong Kong in separate shipments and then assemble them into fully functional firearms to evade the law.

This rhetoric sounds eerily similar to things many congresscritters in the U.S. would say when they are screaming into echo chambers about ghost guns. The biggest thing we can take away from this is that even in the most restrictive places in the world, criminals can and will find a way to get firearms for ill intent. Meanwhile, what recourse do the citizens of Hong Kong have to protect themselves from criminals? Judging by all the footage we can view about continual unrest in Hong Kong, probably not much.

The recent announcement by the Hong Kong government came with as part of a “public consultation period”.  From the text:

It proposed to amend the Firearms & Ammunition (Declaration of Arms) Regulations to list specific essential firearm component parts as arms under the Firearms & Ammunition Ordinance.

Looking at so called “gun control” in a world view, we can see the globalist attitude towards countries’ pushes to keep disarming their citizens, criminal or not. To our north, in Canada, our frosty brethren are fighting the good fight to stave off the restrictions on their privileges to have arms. Because, as we know, the United States is one of the only countries that recognizes the arming of private citizens to be a right, with some other countries granting gun ownership as a privilege.

As the current administration does business on a world level, pay very close attention to who they interact with and in what capacity. The same crummy laws that are being introduced here are being parroted all over the world, and that is not by accident.

As for those legal loopholes that everyone is so afraid of in Hong Kong, as a prominent firearms attorney in New Jersey says, “Loopholes are just freedom finding a way.” Let’s all hope and pray that we, as a free country, won’t have to lean strictly on loopholes to be able to keep and bear arms.

John Petrolino is a US Merchant Marine Officer, writer, author of “Decoding Firearms: An Easy to Read Guide on General Gun Safety & Use” and NRA certified pistol, rifle and shotgun instructor living under and working to change New Jersey’s draconian and unconstitutional gun laws. You can find him on the web at www.johnpetrolino.com on twitter at @johnpetrolino and on instagram @jpetrolinoiii