> I find the law that requires you to carry a firearm more interesting

That's not quite what it says. Firearms are only a recommendation.

> Due to the polar bear threat in Svalbard, anyone travelling outside the settlements must be equipped with appropriate means of frightening and chasing off polar bears.

> The Governor of Svalbard also recommends having firearms with you.

Interesting. When I visited a few years ago I was told that you were required to carry a rifle outside of town to protect from the bears and that a handgun wouldn't be sufficient to protect from a mature polar bear. I guess the guide exaggerated.

That isn't necessarily a contradiction.

A handgun may well not have the stopping power. But something like pepper spray (bear mace) might.

There are levels of risk I am not prepared to accept. I'll carry an assault shotgun, an assault rifle, and a dedicated ammunition-hauling dog with me if I go outside a town in Svalbard.

I hope not: although, say, an M16 is a good weapon, you'd do better with something chambered in a full rifle cartridge (e.g. .30-06) against a bear rather than an intermediate cartridge

Alright, fine, then an FGM-148.

If a polar bear is charging me, I want his ancestors to feel what I'm going to do to him.

You can skip the dog. A polar bear can sprint at 40 km/h, so if you're attacked by one, you'll be lucky if you can squeeze off more than one or two shots.

What is an assault shotgun, one painted black and with a bayonet mounted? I think you can have something like this in Fallout.

SPAS-12, AA-12, or similar? Or maybe he's referring to one like the Ithica 37 with slam fire capabilities? The guy really just needs a M1 Garand.

Requiring citizens to keep arms was actually quite common up until the 1800s, with some municipalities actually purchasing firearms for residents, with the expectation that they would be paid back as was manageable.

In which countries?

England and Switzerland come to the top of my mind, I’ll need to dig for a comprehensive list.

Nearly all of them, at least up through the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

I believe it became less popular with the popular revolutions of 1848 and the advent of universal conscription.

I'm not a historian, but this doesn't match my understanding; that true weapons like swords and crossbows tended to be restricted, and peasants used scythes, clubs, etc. instead.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/268dmc/how_w...

Arround 1400, the King proclaimed that "every Englishman or Irishman dwelling in England must have a bow of his own height", at one point Tennis was banned to give more time to bow practice. By 1500s every man had to buy his 7 year old son a bow and teach him how to use it, and a bow+arrows must be kept in everyones house.

Crossbows on the other hand were practically banned, but this was more because a highly skilled longbowman was more deadly

That's fairly unique to England, though, whose military power relied on longbows in a way not matched by rivals.

Gives me a bit of a Skyrim vibe, haha.

Killing polar bears there is prohibited though (they're a protected species). It's only allowed if it's the absolute last resort.

So it's not like people are going around shooting up polar bears for fun or anything :)