[markc]

So I was read the licence info in SR5e and I understand that I need a licence for every biowear/cyberwear item with a rating of R, but in the text it lists general licence's of concealed carry and fire arm.
1) So do I need a licence for each class of fire arm (ie Lt pistol, Hv pistol, SMG, etc) or does one firearm licence cover all fire arms?   
2) Does a Concealed Carry licence cover all fire arms like it does in RL or do you have to have one CC licence for each weapon, fire arm, blade, etc?
3) Same question as #1 but for blades, if I have a katana and a combat ax do I need s separate licence for each or do I need one Blade Licence for both?
4) I probably missed it somewhere but do you need a drivers licence or is that included in the SIN? That is I assume if it is not illegal to operate a vehicle manually.

Note: I have been having some tech issues as I switched internet providers and have had trouble viewing the forums so if I do not respond it is because of that issue.

Thanks
MDC

[Senko]

Speak to your GM.

Licences and Fake SIN's are from what I've seen two of the more commonly modified rules in the game. My understanding of RAW is that anything special or mechanically advantageous requires a license. With regards to your specific questions again different GM's treat them differently but I believe RAW would require . . .

1) I think you need a license for each firearm that is the ARES light fire 70, for the ARES predator V and the AK 97 would each require their own seperate license. Of course the flip side is I think most GM's merely require a generic firearms license but RAW they are each R items and require their own license. I know each magic combat spell RAW needs a seperate license although I personally only require a "firearms license" and a "combat magic license."

2) Not sure on this one but I think its the same thing you have a concealed carry permit for one particular firearm.

3) Yes seperate license for each.

4) Technically you require a drivers license I believe as its a permission.

However again I personally don't use RAW for these (because they're so ridiculously expensive if you do) and I believe many other GM's are the same so you really need to speak to the GM to see how they want to treat it in their game. Going by the posts a lot of the people here treat it as a more blanket license i.e. one firearms license will cover all weapons or all of a category e.g pistols, one concealed carry will cover all concealed carrying of that type of weapon and so on. They also tend to view generic things like a drivers license as not requiring a fake license just restricted but that's where I differ I do require a license if it would need one in real life.

[markc]

Acerunner,
Thanks for the info and that was sort of what I expected but I was trying to figure it out by just using the SR 5e Core book. ie treating myself as a new player/GM no RP experience.
 In the past we always used some RW knowledge about how the USA did firearms with like you said also noting that some item/equipment required separate licences because of there class. ie firearms one licence, concealed carry one licence, bio-wear&cyber one licence per item.
 But in playing in a setting/game world that RW knowledge does not/may not really apply.

 Note: But I did forget to check the SR 5e core errata page I downloaded for info on this subject. 

Thanks again.
MDC

[Beta]

The core rules are (deliberately?) vague about the details of required licences.  If your group wants more firm guidelines, I'd suggest looking up the current ShadowRun Missions FAQ, which does give some more detail of licences as required for missions play.  It isn't 'official' as in meant to be part of the core rules, but it is the rulings for the most sort of general/generic SR gaming, so it is a reasonable thing to use if you want more detail.

You can find it linked in a thread on these boards, here: http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=24790.0

[Shonuff]

Personally, I kept things simple: conceal carry, Awakened, drivers, boating, FOID (for civilian weapons), etc. and then I use occupational licenses for the more exotics: eg, a bodyguard license would allow for armor and heavier weapons; a private eye license for snooping equipment; a matrix security license for decks; etc.

May not be RAI, but alleviates some of the bookkeeping.

[markc]

Thanks to both of you as I said I am having some crazy network problems (with only the SR Forum) so I cannot reply to each of you.
I downloaded the book and I will send it to the GM.

Thanks again
MDC

[Senko]

Your not the only one who gets problems with this forum (slow, can't connect etc) and only this forum.

[markc]

Your not the only one who gets problems with this forum (slow, can't connect etc) and only this forum.

That is good to know as I spent a while with the new provider on the issue. And another issue so it is not all SR Forum related.
Right now the graphics are all messed up on my end with the spacing all over the place.

MDC

[Overbyte]

Obviously? One can look at current firearm laws and get some idea.
Carry a "small arm" such as a pistol, or rifle, or anything that is semi-automatic is one thing.
Carrying a large weapon, such as a machine gun or anything that is fully automatic is quite another. There is currently no license for that (F).
And then carrying concealed weapons is a separate license, but that seems to usually be rolled together with the firearms license in SR.
When you get a concealed carry permit it applies to any weapon that you would normally be allowed to carry openly without the concealed permit.
You can't make people get a new license every time they buy/change their weapon of choice.

So.. my thought is..
1) Right to carry small arms openly for everyone.
2) Concealed permit for small firearms (and perhaps blades as well)
3) Permit for large/automatic weapons

For blades, it is usual illegal to carry a blade of over a certain length, usually something like 5-6", and concealed blades are similar.
I would think anything larger would just be one license. Assuming you have a license that would allow such a thing.

4) Permit to carry large blades

You could make your runners get a drivers license but one would think they are so ubiquitous that they would come with the SIN.
These days a fake ID is usually the same thing as a fake driver's license although it could be a fake passport or other form of ID, but I think that's probably not worth worrying about.

[Reaver]

Boils down to how grainular the GM wants to get.

I have seen GMs that want to enforce the dystopian, bleak soul-grinding system through a series of permits to do just about everything and anything. Thus requiring players to buy permits for each individual weapon and item.

And I have seen GMs who put in the most casual effort into it, requiring a simple 'fire-arms permit' to cover everything from holdouts to rocket launchers.

[markc]

Thanks all for the input. I have forwarded some stuff to the GM but he is getting ready for the Con this weekend (now) in Portland, OR. The big bummer is unless a miracle happens the new game they had printed to sell will not arrive until Tuesday, 2 days after the Con ends. Printer miss-shipped product so no product to sell. They are still going to do demo's though with there proto-types unless something else crazy happens.

Thanks again.
MDC   

[Quatar]

I think the gear question has been answered by the others, I can't really add anything there.

I just wanted to mention something about driver's licences: Most cars don't even have manual controls anymore, they drive completely automated using either the onboard Pilot program or the Gridguide system of the city you're in. So it's quite possible that even children would be allowed to "drive" such a car, since they can't do anything about it anyway. That's silly to use for a shadowrunner though, as those systems won't allow you to break the speed limit, if the police says "Stop" it stops, and is completely, utterly trackable. So you'd most likely still need a licence for "manual driving". But if you don't let yourself get caught manual driving, you'd probably be fine.

[Senko]

Unless that's what a "drivers licence" is in the shadowrun world. That is anyone can hope in a car and get transproted to their destination kids to school, adults to work or play (with perhaps restrictions on what a kid can access) but to drive one manually you need a special drivers license. Usually issued to police and other emergency services who need to be able to go outside the normal places. So if you get pulled over driving manually you better hope your fake license is good enough to pass the check but if you get pulled over while under auto-control they're looking for something else.

The other thing to consider is devil rats and other threats may impact on firearms licensing. That is in the real world your biggest threat moving around town is likely to be a criminal with a gun (if your unlucky) in shadowrun it could be a pack of devilrats, an insect spirit, some other threat so heavier firearms could be more commonly available. That is its not uncommon for someone to have a handgun, sword, combat magic license in the more dangerous areas where runners roam (obviously an upscale mall is not going to let you room around with these) but in the slum equivilents it could be considered normal common sense. Maybe even businesses on the borders where corp workers can check their weapons while commuting from home (dangerous neighbourhood) to work (safe neighbourhood).