“The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.” – Thucydides
Don’t you always love how anti-gun politicians point to the European Union as examples of how gun laws in these United States should be? “Well, in Europe…” or, “In Australia…” the diatribe always begins. Then, when they dig into the comparisons, its always about, “gun deaths.” Never about the level of other kinds of violent crime, resulting in death or serious injury that Europe experiences on an annual basis. European nations are somehow the shining example of how gun laws for America ought to be. The biggest flaw in that narrative is that none of those European countries have anything that even remotely resembles this nation’s second amendment. Anti-gun libs never address that simple morsel…unless it is to get rid of it.
So, we’ve all heard the European comparisons, false synonyms, analogies and other anecdotes that usually result in cherry picked, dishonest liberal premises. But is Europe really as anti-gun a culture as our American moral betters would have us believe?
On Wednesday, January 13, 2016 The New York Post ran an article entitled, Europeans stocking up on guns after mass sex attacks.
“The number of gun permits issued has recently quadrupled in Germany and Austria after the attacks in Cologne and Salzburg…”
Writes the New York Post’s Yaron Steinbruch. “Sixty percent of respondents in a poll commissioned by Viennese newspaper Heute said the influx of refugees is a cause for fear and unease,” the Post continues.
Vienna Gun store owner Franz Dorfner, complains he has been unable to keep up with sudden demand. 28-year-ols Vienna resident Lisa Herdina, residing near Austria’s largest refugee camp at Traiskirchen, told the mirror.co.uk that she got a rifle.“I keep my gun in my house because it gives me a feeling of safety, especially when I’m alone.” Herdina continues, “My dog is great protection because he warns me every time anybody is anywhere near the house.”
On Wednesday, January 27, 2016, Germany’s state run newspaper Deutche Welle featured a column entitled, “More Germans are arming themselves.” DW opens the article with,
For weeks arms sellers and regulatory agencies have seen increased demand for gun permits. Enrollment in self-defense courses is also up. Police say that is not yet a problem.
Felix Beilharz, a social media expert from Cologne, says that online trends illustrate the dimensions of the insecurity: “There has been an increase of at least 1,000 percent or more in Google search queries for gun permits since January,” says Beilharz.
Internet videos provide insight into the attitudes of those purchasing weapons. One, for instance, features a German elderly man in his living room, first he passionately defends the USA’s laws protecting the right to bear arms, and then he bluntly states: “Carrying arms is also necessary in Germany, because our police can no longer protect us from burglars.”
Rainer Wendt of the German Police Union (GdP) told DW that the Police have no intention of keeping citizens from arming themselves.
“No way. It is permitted by law.” (Wendt is also strictly against tightening existing laws.) “That is the wrong way. People are mature enough to deal with the situation.”
In addition, Pepper spray, stun guns and gas pistols are in high demand.
In November of 2013, I reposted my Op-ed featured in the Eagle Tribune and Derry News. In that column, I discussed in detail the amount of violent crime in Europe. And that was three years before the refugees overran the continent with their violence. Juxtapose that violence with the unparalleled violence being wrought by the influx of lawless refugees.
Anti-gun liberals love to point to Europe as their shining example of perfect gun control states. But the violence in Europe now is in such a state that European citizens now seek to arm themselves, and some even now look to America as an example for the fundamental right of self-protection.
The moral of the story is that is is entirely easy to sit in insular worlds, eschewing the united states and the gun capital of the world. Yet, when the proverbial sh*t is hitting the fan, its harder to look any other direction for a solution in order to be safe in European society. Europeans are waking up to the sobering fact that to be safe in society one will have to be proactive.
Finally, all those anti-gun libs pointing to Europe about their gun control? Yeah, not so much.