this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2023
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Vietnam. I've never seen someone with a gun that wasn't army, police, or at an Olympic event. Civilians can only own shotguns, and even then under a lot of restrictions. It's quite uncommon but I've heard of companies with rubber plantations out in the middle of nowhere having one gun on site. I've only heard of it being used to kill the odd wild boar that accidentally wanders into the office building.
There are some illegal guns from time to time, but not that many. It's something I've only seen on the news.
The current situation suits me just fine -- at our population density, I'm not comfortable with gun ownership being widespread. When you put enough people in a small space, there's always someone angry nearby, always someone celebrating, being born, dying. With everything happening everywhere all at once, adding guns to the mix would not be great, I think.
Also as one of very few immigrants to Vietnam, I am already seen as a target for thieves. People imagine I must be magically very wealthy or something -- I'm not. I came here with nothing and built a company, to progress to maybe middle-class. I live in the slums quietly like a normal person.
I would be OK with the police or army running shooting ranges where you could rent a gun to practice target shooting. Maybe that already exists, for all I know. I haven't really checked. There are archery ranges though, this is good enough for me :D
On the other hand -- more or less all citizens are trained to service an assault rifle. The means disassembly, cleaning, maintenance. My wife was fastest in her university class. We just don't own guns.
Wow, when I was 16 in Hanoi, a dude in a market tried to sell me a revolver
Haha wow. Times have certainly changed!
This city is nearly unrecognizable from 10 years ago.
You migrated to Vietnam? That's actually quite interesting! Can I ask you some questions?
Sure. Go ahead.
Long story short though, my field of study disappeared in a puff of legislation, then the field I pivoted to also disappeared in a puff of legislation. So I decided to try and immigrate to a growth economy. I also taught myself software and hardware engineering. After visiting China and Vietnam, Vietnam seemed to have substantially clearer laws regarding foreign owned companies and immigration, the language didn't make me functionally illiterate, and 12 years ago the economy hadn't boomed yet, so the timing was better. The 5 year plan also had specific incentives for people like me.
The rest is mostly paperwork and immigration compliance (which you can also ask me about if you like). Currently there's a trend where calling yourself a 'digital nomad', 'expat' or 'remote worker' means you ignore the laws of the country you're a guest in -- I'm not one of those (haha, I have dark stories about that crowd). I've seen so many of those come and go, that I don't remember their names or faces -- only their misplaced optimism.