Hi!
I’m just curious if there are any Europeans here that are pro gun. As a European myself I know it’s super rare and those who are are probably not going to admit it publicly because guns are very, very stigmatized here. The exception might be the Czech Republic since they actually do have concealed carry licenses.
I haven’t always been pro gun, I have just like every other cheep in Europe I thought they were nothing but bad. But after years of watching guntubers and hearing 2a advocates arguments and seeing how the anti-gun crowds arguments are based on complete ignorance (they often can’t even get the basic facts right), I’ve completely changed my mind over the last maybe 5-6 years. The increase of gun violence in Europe and in my own country in particular, like seeing criminals post videos when they fire their fully automatic AKs in the air out the window of a moving car and the rise of gun violence in general. I realized that gun bans don’t work, and the only way to make sure you never get victimized by one of those criminals is to be able to use a gun in self-defense.
I know there are mostly Americans here, and I watch the gun debate over there and how the elite is trying to infringe on your rights. Make sure you fight that every single day. Because us over here have nothing to defend ourselves with if/when something happens. All we can do is hope the offender is not a complete psycho and will not kill us if we just comply.
Any Europeans wanna share their own journey from anti-gun to pro-gun?
In the states, when I hear “pro-gun” without any other qualifiers, I usually think of that as meaning someone in favor of protecting citizens’ legal access to guns with little to no gun control.
I do, in principal, agree that letting unstable people have them isn’t desirable. From my perspective, it’s a bit more complicated than that though.
Leaving aside that some otherwise stable people can suddenly go “off the deep end” or theoretically could be coerced into committing crimes they normally would not, the main issue here is that anti-gun folks have taken to trying to misdiagnose some folks as unstable in order to deprive people they dislike from having access to guns. Some states have so-called “red flag” laws (e.g. they define some vague “red flag” trait then have people who are unqualified report people who supposedly have said trait, send them to someone who is supposedly qualified to make that determination but is essentially biased, label them with said “red flag” then use the law to deprive them of rights they would otherwise have, in the US anyway).
If you have a bad opinion of guns, try imaging the same concept but with freedom of speech rather than gun rights and even if you don’t agree with it, you’ll probably at least understand why so many of us get frustrated by it.
I am definitely in favor of convicted criminals not having legal access to guns (but am painfully aware they will probably have illegal access to them anyway) and that is something we restrict here. I think there is some variation by state but everywhere I’ve ever bought a gun from a shop requires passing a criminal background check.
We do have personal sales that don’t get those checks and I know those sales get attacked politically a lot. But most of the people I know who have sold guns in personal sales usually have some method as well cuz we don’t want trouble coming back on us personally or on our right to own guns. For example, I know a lot of guys who will only sell if they either personally know the buyer or the buyer can show a valid gun license (which in turn you can only get after a background check) so it’s still a lot more up-and-up than if someone were to attempt buying on the black market.
Thanks for the insight. Sound like the states have a lot of good going on about guns, except for arguably stupid laws of some supposed red flag. I don’t believe such red flags exist or give enough insight to determine right to gun.
I’ve never seen a gun as a right, because I’ve never been deprived of one. Coming from that viewpoint seeing a right to gun related to right to voice is a bit distant. But I believe I can relate, especially when comparing the demanded restrictions on free speech and why some demand it. Free speech has power of good and evil, some don’t want what they believe to be evil, but it’s just an attempt to control the discussion.