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SecularMotion

(7,981 posts)
Wed May 11, 2016, 06:28 AM May 2016

How Germany approaches guns

(CNN)It's been more than seven years since a 17-year-old dressed in military gear killed 15 people in a shooting spree in Winnenden, Germany, a picturesque little town just outside of Stuttgart.

Since then, a rare shooting tragedy in Germany, the country has implemented a national firearms registry, requiring the owners of 5.5 million legally owned guns to register them with the government.

The scale of gun ownership took photographers Miguel Hahn and Jan-Christophe Hartung by surprise. They learned that Germany -- a bastion of pacifism following the second World War -- has, per capita, the fourth-highest gun ownership of any nation. And so they set about documenting it, the results of which can be found in their eclectic photo series "Firearms and soap bubbles."

The collection seeks to draw comparisons to the much larger and culturally documented American gun culture, they said. On one hand, Germany's strict gun laws keep firearms largely out of the public eye -- and consciousness. But on the other, there are those who seek to replicate the United States' far more libertarian approach to gun control.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/03/world/cnnphotos-german-gun-ownership/


12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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How Germany approaches guns (Original Post) SecularMotion May 2016 OP
No thanks....I like America. ileus May 2016 #1
Was there some doubt as to where the weapon were acquired? Nuclear Unicorn May 2016 #2
Germany also prohibits the use of firearms TeddyR May 2016 #3
"Cologne sex attacks: Demand for pepper spray and blank-firing guns surge in Germany" DonP May 2016 #4
Adam Lanza's guns were registered with the government. nt hack89 May 2016 #5
Hey SecMo -- have you sent your letter to Kamala Harris yet? pablo_marmol May 2016 #6
NY instituted registration for "assault weapons" with the state govt...didn't work out so well. jmg257 May 2016 #7
Who says it did not work...? CompanyFirstSergeant May 2016 #11
So what? beevul May 2016 #8
Bet they have good brew pubs there. Eleanors38 May 2016 #9
Mmmm TeddyR May 2016 #10
And yet... benEzra May 2016 #12

Nuclear Unicorn

(19,497 posts)
2. Was there some doubt as to where the weapon were acquired?
Wed May 11, 2016, 06:55 AM
May 2016

I can't think of a single highly publicized shooting incident where the ownership wasn't determined. That being the case I'm curious to know what purpose registration holds save for future confiscation.

Also, what are Germany's laws at the time concerning 17-year olds possessing weapons. Far be it for me to suggest laws are impotent against the determined and nihilistic but I doubt a 17-year old could freely acquire weapons by legal means.

 

TeddyR

(2,493 posts)
3. Germany also prohibits the use of firearms
Wed May 11, 2016, 08:51 AM
May 2016

For self-defense, which I was not aware of until I saw this article. Thankfully, the United States has the Second Amendment, which protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms for self defense or whatever other legal reason you desire.

 

DonP

(6,185 posts)
4. "Cologne sex attacks: Demand for pepper spray and blank-firing guns surge in Germany"
Wed May 11, 2016, 09:22 AM
May 2016
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/cologne-sex-attacks-demand-pepper-7143428

Gee, funny what happens when you Google things like "Germans buying guns".

Pages and pages of stories about Germans frustrated because they can't get self defense tools and stocking up on pepper spray, blank firing guns that look real et. al.

I guess they are all just stupid and just don't have your Google Fu skillz.

(But I bet their inability to get real guns comforts the folks in the Alsace region of France.)

pablo_marmol

(2,375 posts)
6. Hey SecMo -- have you sent your letter to Kamala Harris yet?
Wed May 11, 2016, 10:54 AM
May 2016

Y'know.......the one letting her have it for botching her job protecting California citizens from CRIMINAL gun violence?

http://213ajq29v6vk19b76q3534cx.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Special-Feature-K-Harris.pdf

Why not? Don't you care about victims of gun violence?

jmg257

(11,996 posts)
7. NY instituted registration for "assault weapons" with the state govt...didn't work out so well.
Wed May 11, 2016, 12:20 PM
May 2016

But it felt good to get it passed!

 

CompanyFirstSergeant

(1,558 posts)
11. Who says it did not work...?
Thu May 12, 2016, 07:21 PM
May 2016

The SAFE Act had 95% compliance!!!

Oh, wait....

Hold on....

Oh, it was 95% NON compliance.

Never mind.

 

TeddyR

(2,493 posts)
10. Mmmm
Wed May 11, 2016, 01:00 PM
May 2016

Beer.

Seriously though, it seems to me that Germany doesn't have the high crime problems that the US has, though I could be mistaken since I don't read Der Spiegel every day. Less gun violence, less knife violence, fewer issues with gangs, etc.

benEzra

(12,148 posts)
12. And yet...
Thu May 12, 2016, 08:08 PM
May 2016

even the over-regulated Germans can own some of the same guns that Canadians and Americans (and Swiss, Finns, Swedish, etc. etc.) can.

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