1. Never understood why people who come from overseas get beguiled into publishing things like this. It’d be akin to me doing an analysis of the German’s alcohol consumption from an American (alcohol is the devil, yet we drink it) perspective. Americans are shocked that high schoolers in Europe drink alcohol without penalty, but we’re not writing op-eds in Der Spiegel about it. I think Herr ter Haseborg needs to keep his European sensitivities under control if he wants to do business here.

   I’d extend him the same courtesy if I were in Europe. Sure, I’d love to be able to wear a fine H&K firearm while in a seedy area of Berlin, but their laws prohibit me from doing so. And I’d respect that, since I’m not a German citizen. If I was that worked up about German firearms laws, I’d go through the process of naturalizing myself there and then vote on the issue. Conversely, if he’s that offended by our laws, he can become a citizen and vote on the issue, as well. Otherwise, Herr ter Haseborg, I do kindly suggest you stop complaining.

   FYI, the irony isn’t lost on me that you guys claim to abhor firearms, yet you guys have no issues selling us H&K pistols by the truckload, and your friends to the south have made sure that GLOCK is the most popular pistol in America. Sure, you hate guns, but when American dollars come a-calling, you all are suddenly ardent supporters of our Second Amendment and the NRA.

2. Let’s get some historical accuracy in here. The Nazis did arm citizens to go after the undesirables – just not German citizens. There was at least one quasi-military unit created in each conquered country that was used to do the work Germans could not do because they were busy trying to conquer more countries.

   Yes, why use the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development as the comparison group? The US does very, very badly in both raw numbers and per-10,000 when the whole planet is surveyed. See the UNOCD chart at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate .

   Even after the history of the 20th century most Europeans still look to the state to protect them. Much of that comes from the difference between their cultural history and serfs and peasants while over here we had no lords and knights to battle the riff and raff.

   But the bottom line? Americans won’t be more like the Europeans because a) we are not Europeans, b) don’t want to be Europeans, c) know that the FSA/Democrat welfare state is not going to last forever, d) actually like being responsible for ourselves in spite of the noise to the contrary to the FSA/Democrat welfare state, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum.

   Why is he here in America if he does not like America? Is someone holding a gun to his head making him stay?

   stay safe.

   1. “There was at least one quasi-military unit ”

      But you are talking Gestapo/SS controlled paramilitary, not plain vanilla Joe Schmidt. Big difference there. Attacks on the Jews/ETC were mostly initiated by the SA until it was disbanded and then it became the purview of the SS.

3. “It is almost impossible for a citizen to get a firearm.”

   Lies as always with the anti-freedom MFers.

   As is always the case in Europe, firearms law in Germany is quite convoluted. And there’s a number of restrictions. But you can most definitely own a handgun for sports and hunting.

   Semi-auto rifles are Go too, with restrictions for target shooting (> 16.5″ barrel and such) but there are indeed AR-15 in IPSC Rifle matches …

   1. I was going to say that, but my post was already very windy. You can indeed possess a firearm in Germany if you jump through some hoops. Compared to some other nations in Europe, they have firearms freedom.

4. Let him return to his ancestral land and lets see what happens after the “refugees” have taken control of the streets. He just might have a CTJM that changes his mind.

5. He has the mindset of a submissive, compliant and obedient victim. He has no understanding of the roots of the 2nd Amendment.

6. There’s also a German cultural factor that Barbra Tuchman noted during WWI, and the Russians noted after WWII: Germans don’t really grok unsanctioned warfare.
   The idea of the people overthrowing a tyrant or invader by force of arms is alien to them- a bit like WWII era Japanese and surrender.
   Contrast the Russians- a homegrown tyrant is fine with them, as long as he’s not weak and indecisive. Foreign invaders, on the other hand…

7. I will give him one point: Gun control should be a major discussion topic in Presidential races. It’s one field where the Democrats will always lose.

   That’s why they don’t talk about it on the campaign trail.

   1. Yes, I do want the evil Democrats to tell us all why we don’t need firearms after a soon to be 8 year stint of lawlessness by the POTUS and antics of his party.

      1. Even the most liberal of my friends are pro-gun, including every homosexual I know.

8. […] to Gun Free Zone for catching this by a writer, a German writer, at the Miami […]

9. OECD? Sure. Exclude most of the G+ nations. Mexico is considered “industrialized”, is a member of the OECD, and has a higher per capita homicide rate than the US. 5.11 vs 3.92. Both Brazil, Russia and South Africa are also considered “industrialized” (all are G8+5 members) but are not members of the OECD and have higher firearm homicide rates than the US. 21.07,(homicide around 20/100K) , 22.04.

   1. Never-mind that it’s a well-known fact that Canada, Britain, and Japan all cook their homicide rates and when you account for that, their violent crime rates shoot up to more than ours, even when you include Chicago and Detroit in the mix.

10. Why do you feel that it is unfair for stats to be included only from “lilly white” countries?

    1. Because countries that are “lilly white” (sic) are generally speaking, culturally homogeneous. Norway or Finland, or Sweden, for example, do not have the same racial make-up as the USA. The USA has a mish-mash of varying cultures, differences of racial make-up, religions, etc. That division inevitably leads to conflict (whether or not the conflict is violent is another matter). Blacks vs. whites, Asians vs. Latinos, Catholics vs Protestants, Muslims vs Christians, Sunni vs. Shiite, etc.

       So, in conclusion, comparing a country like Sweden, for example, to the USA is an apple and oranges comparison. Sweden is culturally and racially homogeneous. The USA is not. There is going to be a much greater likelihood of conflict in the USA than in Sweden, so comparing their rates of violence is disingenuous.

       1. Ethnic strife is also not something that European nations really had until the widespread adoption of the internet, and they still don’t have it as bad as we do.(or even as bad as we did 20 years ago, before President and AG Racebaiter showed up)

          1. Sweden WAS culturally and racially homogeneous.

             Mass immigration took it’s toll.

             1. Oh, so true.

                Even in that, statistics plays its part (the trick is in how you count it, and how you want it to be counted).

                http://swedishsurveyor.com/2014/11/16/does-statistics-sweden-have-something-to-hide/

                But, there is a lesson to be learned there. Many in fact.

11. You have to be careful when comparing murder rates between different countries because they have different methods of counting them. In the UK they don’t count a homicide until a person has been convicted of the crime. This means a murder gets counted much later at best and at worst it never gets counted in the statistics.Here is a blog post that explains this http://rboatright.blogspot.com/2013/03/comparing-england-or-uk-murder-rates.html>. If this method was used in the US our murder rate would at least be cut in half if not more.

    1. I think it would be around 40% cut. IIRC, the country average is 60% of murder cases solved.

    2. Reminds me of infant mortality calculations that are used as a surrogate that American medicine is sub-par when in reality we count live births differently from Europe and often heroically attempt to save the lives of extremely premature infants which skews the numbers. Definitely some apples to oranges out there in the gun stats, too.

       Remember though that our rights are not subject to stats and the latest (Bloomberg) “research” findings. I know how data analysis can be twisted and perverted. Such “studies” have little to do with me and mine when a meth-head kicks in my front door. Only my Mossberg matters then.

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