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According to Conde Nast Traveler, 73.5 million Americans journeyed outside the U.S. in 2015. That’s around twenty-three percent of the U.S. population. While that’s not an insignificant number, I doubt the majority of these passport holders got a real feel for daily life abroad. No doubt the nine million Americans living outside the Home of the Brave — representing about 2.5 percent of all Americans — have a better grasp of what differentiates America from other countries. Is that you?

The reason I ask: when gun control advocates compare the U.S. to foreign countries the average American has little to no idea what life’s like in those other lands. So they don’t know what they’d have to give up to reduce “gun violence.” If you’ve lived abroad, as I have, please share the important differences between life in the “gun crazy” U.S. and life in gun control-heavy foreign countries. Simply put, is the Second Amendment worth it?

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68 COMMENTS

  1. Free men have the ability to purchase firearms at their leisure, serfs do not.

    Is the 2nd Amendment worth it?

    Does a Pope crap in the woods?

    • Leave the Pope to his business please. He’s got nothing to do with this. It’s the left minded nanny state fans who demonize guns and everything that smells of independence. Catholics don’t exist here. They are normal people, with as many opinions on everything as there are catholics on Earth.
      Europeans, generally, are so “civilized”, they think they can live beyond the boundaries of human (animal) reality. When someone commits a crime, they always look for the Collective Guilt. It’s never the person, the individual, who’s responsible. Therefore you can’t look for private safety. That only comes from the Collectivity. Guess what this reminds of?

      • Since the (current) Pope is “all in” for the nanny state and against personal independence I think it is appropriate to include him here, even as an attempt at humor. (Good one, guys.)

      • Since he Pope is “all in” for the “…left minded nanny state fans who demonize guns and everything that smells of independence.” I believe it is entirely appropriate to include reference to him here, however humorously.

        Bears on the other hand….

      • Actually, the Pope has shot his mouth off about our gun rights before, just as he has criticized us for wanting to be build a wall to keep illegal aliens out. That makes the Pope fair game in the discussion, especially when he does so from the comfort and safety of the Holy See, protected by armed guards, behind a large wall.

        Really, there hasn’t been a real pope since John Paul II, and his mishandling of the abuse cases was enough to drive many Catholics from the church. No wonder they have to redouble recruitment efforts among 3rd world countries.

  2. When these people compare US to other nations they have no idea what they’re talking about.
    Most Americans don’t even know what American gun laws are like. I am doubtful any of these ex-pat’s have a clue what the gun laws actually are in their utopias.

    So we have somebody who doesnt know jack about the laws of two or more nations trying to say one nations laws are better than another.

    That’s plain jackassery.

    • “When these people compare US to other nations they have no idea what they’re talking about.”

      Amen to that. This is a point that is very well made in (no, really) “Bowling for Columbine”, which is actually a very good movie until it goes full retard at the very end.

      • The idea that a movie that makes the direct argument that the KKK and NRA work together (which if anything is the opposite) is a good movie is a very difficult one for me to accept.

        • I know it’s a tough sell around here, but IMO and all. The interviews struck me as being of surprisingly high quality, but maybe I’ve forgotten some of the dumber bits.

        • Off the top of my head, there’s Chuck Heston’s suit changing in the middle of what was supposed to be a single speech, there’s Moore cutting out the waiting period and background check for the rifle he was awarded by the bank, there’s his insane assertion that Canadians don’t lock their doors, and there’s his interview with Heston himself where Moore blames him for Kayla Rolland’s death even though not a single circumstance that led to the murder (kid steals unsupervised gun, from drug-dealer felon uncle, brings to school, kills classmate with it) was endorsed or enabled by the NRA’s policies .

          If someone has to lie and distort to get their point across, it probably means they don’t have one. Michael Moore lies and distorts constantly as a matter of course. He can no more help himself to stop lying than he can stop at only one vat of pudding for breakfast.

    • You tar with a broad brush.
      You make assumptions with no evidence.

      I lived 7 1/2 years overseas in two different countries and spent time is some others.
      The two I lived in allowed citizens to own firearms with some restrictions.
      Foreigners had severe restrictions and penalties for possession.
      Neither were “pleasant” to live in and I would not enter either under any circumstances today.
      Other countries are a mishmash of firearm laws requiring a local lawyer and substantial money to interpret.
      Many have firearms available for some amount of money in the hands of the right officials.

  3. Worth it? Worth what?

    The second amendment protects a significant portion of the US every year. Every day, even. The ability to defend life properly will always be worth it. Whatever it is.

    • A gun costs money. The right to buy one does not. Prohibiting the government from infringing that right does not. Anyone wishing to decrease the “cost” of gun ownership should start repealing useless and ineffective laws.

  4. It’s a matter of statistics. And I don’t want to become one.
    No matter where you travel or live, there are places and times when it is more likely that someone will try to make you a statistic. The problem is that we don’t always have control (or the knowledge to exert control effectively) over our circumstances. Even those with way more security than the average bear are not immune. (Bengazi, anyone?) So we do our best to stay safe and prepare for the chance event that self defense is required. For some, when wickedness comes our way, there is no chance for survival. But do you want to go out with a bang or a whimper? Even though we may not survive, by fighting the good fight we may very well help make it possible for our offspring to survive. And that’s something….
    I for one am grateful for the founders penning the 2nd Amendment.

  5. When I worked in Australia, I was told that there were “more guns than gophers buried here”. In India, I was repeatedly asked if I brought my guns with me, they wanted to see them. The morons watch too much US TV. In Brazil & Mexico, I really wish I could’ve carried a gun, scary places.

    I conceal carry 99% of the time it’s legal and do not care if is against the rules unless it has the force of law. I’ve had (2) sucessful DGUs (both in defense of others) without having to fire a shot. I would not live anywhere that tried to prevent me from being able to defend myself.

  6. Ask the Tutsi if the 2nd Amd. would have been worth it. Ask the Albanians, ask the Cambodians, the Russians, the Chinese.

    Ask the Native Americans, ask the Syrians, ask the Chechens, ask the Somalians.

    Perhaps a note to the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan might be enlightening. If only they could have a chat with Ahmad Shah Massoud.

    Ask the people that decide to fight rather than have their way of life systemically destroyed what they think.

  7. Of course it’s worth it…it protects all the others. Good or bad it’s the onlything like it on this sorry world(the Swiss not withstanding).

  8. I won’t comment on whether or not it’s worth it but I will say this.

    I’ve lived a year of my life in Costa Rica and in New Zealand and visited 30+ countries on five continents.

    NZ has restrictive gun laws in some respects but Kiwis don’t much seem to care. Effectively you can get whatever you want if you bother to get the license and Kiwis seem OK with that. Certainly when I was there (1997) most of the people’s that I knew had parents who owned guns but there were few MSR’s due to licensing for them being a pain. Again, no one seemed to care. We shot a lot of rabbits and didn’t need more than a .22 for that.

    Costa Rica on the other hand has very permissive gun laws so long as you obtain a Costa Rican driver’s license which requires citizenship or permanent residency. After that you can import your guns from the US and carry licenses are freely given (via the internet these days). The gun stores there are fully stocked with all manner of guns from bolt guns to modern weaponry. When I was living there in 2003 I was told that machine guns were in fact OTC if you were legally allowed to purchase any other gun. I never verified if that was true since I wasn’t a permanent resident and, if it was true, it may no longer be true. Costa Rica doesn’t have a guarantee of a right to own a firearm but they don’t restrict the privilege very heavily.

    As for the rest of the world, I’ve been to a few shitholes such as Zimbabwe and the honest truth of the matter is that places like most of Africa and South/Central America are awash with firearms legal or not. Cops in Zimbabwe will let you shoot their full auto AK’s for $5 and villagers will offer to swap you an RPG if you’ll use your foreign currency to buy them $20 worth of food. Other parts of Africa are worse. A case of RPG-7’s costs a 20lb bag of rice in some parts.

    Really the only places I’ve been where firearms were not fairly visible were Australia (I didn’t live there so I didn’t know anyone) and Western Europe. Like I said, most of the rest of the world is awash in firearms but liberals don’t know that because they go to Paris, Cape Town, London, Berlin, Bonn, Rome (all nice cities btw) etc. not Johannesburg, Montevideo, Harare, Bulawayo, Gaborone (Botswana), Rio or San Salvador. They go to nice places with nice people who agree with their liberal views and have the same tastes in booze.

  9. GUN VIOLENCE IS A PROBLEM CREATED BY THE VIOLENT.
    THE VIOLENT ARE CREATED BY A SOCIAL DYSFUNCTION OF THE EVIL (D).

    NOBODY HERE NEEDS TO GIVE A FLYING F ABOUT THE REST OF THE WORLD EXCEPT WITH REGARD TO HOW IT THREATENS OUR LIFE HERE.

    WE HAVE LIBERTY, IT IS EARNED, WE DON’T PUT UP WITH OUR SHITASS NEIGHBORS WHO NEED JOBS (A/K/A OUR GOVERNMENT) FROM F_CKING WITH IT (MUCH) AND EACH LITTLE BIT IS A PERMANENT WRONGDOING THAT IS NEVER FORGOTTEN.

    The rest of the world doesn’t have to agree or adopt the same posture but they do have to F-off instead of saying our shit does not work but it works good enough to pay for their f-d up system of society. Fdat.

    Quit beating up on the OFWG’s while at the same time DROWNING YOUR POS KIDS TRYING TO GET TO THE PLACES THAT WE’VE ESTABLISHED OUR SOCIETIES IN.

    FTW
    F THE UN
    F ALL WHO SAY DIFFERENTLY

  10. Well, I can’t really say I “lived” abroad, but I spent a good 3 weeks living in France, in a pretty average home, seeing fairly average life. I did a lot of touristy things, but not all of it was major tourist destinations. More importantly, I was there after the Paris attacks in the prolonged state of emergency. While I was there, just in my 3 weeks, security was over the top. I was patted down to get into a concert, I had to throw my bottle of water away in 3 separate locations because it could be used as a weapon, I had my bags searched to get into the Eiffel tower. I can tell you my native friend was a little irritated with all the security measures. Just after the Paris attack, my friend said they were searching bags going into the supermarket.

    But for the most part, people were more relaxed. Nobody seemed all that worried, there was actually even a sense that American laws were overly strict there. (Except gun laws. American gun laws were crazy.) I only got a taste of France, but from the taste I got, I can’t really say it’s a whole lot worse than the liberal parts of the U.S.

    • No, the Lautenberg Amendment says if you’ve committed something that strips you of your rights as a felon (because such violation is a violation of Societal Agreement that essentially should have gotten Society to instead rise up and kill your ass, because you have proven yourself incapable or unwilling to support it) then you also lose your right to the tools that you might use to defend yourself because you have shown yourself willing to damage Society, and you could only do more damage with said tools.

  11. “…Simply put, is the Second Amendment worth it?:

    Irrelevant.

    We have the Second Amendment, it protects our right to self defense, don’t really care what anyone else anywhere else thinks of it. If our guns scare you, don’t come visit.

    Having said that…. neat video. It is, however, taking a bunch of data points and tossing them out as if they are all somehow connected. The number of people killed by firearms is more than all the people killed in two world wars…. didn’t most of those people in those wars get shot?

  12. Ask the people of Western Europe, Germany, Japan, China and Russia how many people were murdered by those governments in the last 150 years…then get back to me why I should not be armed.

  13. The 2nd Amendment goes like this:

    Everyone on the planet = 1
    No one ever = greater than 1
    No position, title, wealth, intelligence, family, service will ever make a person = greater than 1

    We are all made by GOD
    We are all each governed [under GOD] by ourselves
    We have governments made up [wherever on the planet or in time that you have found them] of MEN (Mankind)
    We (in the U.S.) have those governments of Men SERVE US [this is where much of the rest of the world has lost their way]
    When they are found TO NOT SERVE US WE HAVE THE OPTION TO ERADICATE THEM
    ERADICATING THOSE FING POS’s MAY TAKE “ARMS”
    WE CANNOT ALLOW THE AHOLES THAT WE MAY NEED THE ARMS TO ERADICATE, DECIDE ON WHETHER THEY THINK WE SHOULD HAVE ARMS

    THE SECOND AMENDMENT IS WORTH IT, BUT IF SOME SHITHEAD OUT THERE THINKS IT ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO ACCOMPLISH THE SAME THING, THEY ARE F_CKED IN THE HEAD.

    IN NO CASE OR MANNER IS THE SECOND AMENDMENT SOMETHING A GOVERNMENT OR YOUR FELLOW MAN CAN HIDE BEHIND

    IF YOU FEEL THAT YOU NEED TO DO CIVIL WAR I DON’T EXPECT THAT YOU’LL ASK MY PERMISSION.

    I HEREBY FORESWEAR TO YOU THAT I WILL NOT ASK.

  14. Is the Second Amendment worth it? Simple answer, YES!

    Detailed answer: For me the 2A is worth defending, more now than ever with the islamofascists and domestic terrorists like BLM trying to kill/destroy/wipeout anything that doesn’t fit their very narrow and barbaric view of the world.

    I’ve lived abroad and still travel quite a few whenever the funds are available. Usually the people I talk to about living in the U.S. have all this misconceptions about people here, which I wholeheartedly blame on Hollystupid and the libtard media.

  15. Most ex-pats live in very well-off communities which are safe or they live in regular neighborhoods in rich countries in Europe or Asia. They do not get to experience areas where they might need a gun. Same here in the U.S. – rich suburbanites don’t need guns to protect themselves and assume this applies to everyone.

  16. I’ve traveled outside the U.S. to three different nations, and except for in the Bahamas I felt naked without my sidearm (probably didn’t notice in the Bahamas because I spent most of my time in Speedo and snorkeling gear, where I wouldn’t have been carrying anyway).

    But if I had faced there situations I’ve faced here, I would have felt more than naked, I would have felt assaulted and maimed or dead. So considering that I am alive and or/whole and sound today because of my sidearm, of course I say the Second Amendment is worth it. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t cover the entire continent.

  17. >>I doubt the majority of these passport holders got a real feel for daily life abroad.

    I think I do. One of the places I travel to in Europe on business has the unofficial nickname of “Stab City” and from reading the paper every morning while there, it is well earned. Since knives with blades longer that 7.5cm (roughly 3″ ) are illegal, what you commonly see are reports of people being shanked with screwdrivers, ice picks, ground down steel rods, or (surprise, surprise) 8″+ knives that criminals possess illegally. Last time I was there, the local paper featured a story about a home owner who was possibly facing jail time because he had embedded shards of glass in the top of the wall around his “garden” (i.e. yard) and a poor innocent miscreant had injured himself while trying to climb over and rob the house in the middle of the night. The comments of several people in the story (who were concerned because the police were now going to start prosecuting people with glass on their walls, just for having the glass there) was “What else are we to do ? We have no other way to even begin to protect ourselves”. So , yes it’s worth it.

  18. Well, in Austria you can get beaten to death by a refugee with 18 prior prooven crimes but no jail sentence or deportation. In broad daylight. And neither you or somebody else is able to help you. Of course police can’t protect you (i can’t blame them on that, not like they have teleportation or something. I mean apparently they managed to get that guy 18 times and “justice” system set him free…) and politicians are definetly not interested in helping you. They want more refugees and more gun bans. Because that worked so great in the first place.
    Or another fine example, a german guy got a 6 month jailtime for assault. He “assaulted” a guy who was about to beat another man to death. That’s right, for protecting a fellow citizen from being beaten and kicked to death by 5 drunk guys gets you strict punishment. Did i say something about the attackers punishment? Nah, that’s because of course there was none. I mean why would you try to punish somebody for attempted murder? Self defense is what the justice system should be going after of course!
    And we in germany just had a temporary ban on all semiautomatic rifles because some stupid judge thought he could just misinterpret a law about not killing deer with continuous fire but rather precise shots that now all semiautomatic guns must be banned. Makes sense i guess. At least if your mother dropped you on the head as a child…

  19. Well, let’s see…
    Ask Londoners how their gun-free (it isn’t, but what the heck) utopia is working for them.
    Ask North Koreans (which IS a gun-free utopia).
    Ask Frenchmen.
    Ask Venezuelans.
    Ask anyone, you will get different answers, because no country’s culture and daily life revolves around guns or the lack of them.
    A lot of countries have less violent crime than we (the US) do, but their justice systems are also different from ours (yes, I’ve done some study on this). Their very cultures differ, too.
    Take Japan; far less violent crime, much higher suicide rate.
    Canada has less also, but their taxes are far higher. That money goes somewhere other than just health care (I hope!).
    Different countries are just that: Different. None are like the US, and guns are far from the only, or even deciding, factor.

  20. I have no plans to leave the borders of the United States, but I visited family in California.

    Always happy to come back to my home in the the free state of Kansas.

  21. Ralph
    Try to notice the difference between normal Australian’s and politician / media

    Also some of the most pro gun people I meet are English people who migrated because of their laws.

    Lots of us shot here. I have taken 5 new people to the range this year.

    One of the differences to USA here is when Britain settled Australia 20 years after American revolution they made sure firearms were harder to get

    • That’s because, other than the Abbos, the land down under was settled by criminals sent to the penal colony to get them out of England in order to make it appear to have a low crime rate.

      As for life in other countries, I have lived in quite a few during my military service. Unfortunately, the majority of military people set themselves apart from the local populace. They look down on the host nation people and act as if we are there to save them from their enemies and themselves. I consider this to be the norm of Americans who go abroad as well as foreigners who come here. Neither group sees the real country they visit.

      I followed my father’s advice and entered the local communities with an open mind. I made many friends and those friendships are still solid after 40 years. I learned a great deal more about the people in those countries than the vast majority of Americans.

      Is the 2nd Amendment worth it? It sure was to our Founders who were well educated and wise. If it was good enough for them, it’s good enough for me.

      I am reminded of Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku (April 4, 1884 – April 18, 1943) the Japanese Marshal Admiral and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II until his death. Yamamoto held several important posts in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and undertook many of its changes and reorganizations, especially its development of naval aviation. He was the commander-in-chief during the decisive early years of the Pacific War and so was responsible for major battles such as Pearl Harbor and Midway. He also opposed war against the United States partly because of his studies at Harvard University (1919–1921) and his two postings as a naval attaché in Washington, D.C. He learned to speak fluent English as a result. Yamamoto traveled extensively in the United States during his tour of duty there, where he studied American customs and business practices. According to his autobiography, he told the Japanese Imperial Staff that he could attack Hawaii but could not hold it for more than 6 months. He further informed them that an invasion of the USA was out of the question because the invasion force would be faced with a rifle behind every tree.

      This was the basis of why the Founders included the 2nd Amendment. Essentially every citizen was a warrior who would be ready to respond to the nation’s call. Such was the case during the War of 1812 when the British invaded the USA.

      Millions have shed their life’s blood to defend the Constitution; the COMPLETE Constitution; and, therefore, our way of life. It seems our nation has thrown away the concept of patriotism under the watch of progressives (aka commies).

  22. “73.5 million Americans journeyed”. BS.

    Only if include illegals, pseudolegals, “dreamers”, furnin twits/students admitted as residents and aliens legally admitted (most voted for Hellery on Nov 8 so that she won the popular vote).

  23. Funny, I’ve been to most of these countries and most citizens admitted are fine without firearms.

    I’ve had people from different countries listed on the video during my stay have told me the same things I tell the brainwashed masses on here.

    The citizens of the civilized world see guns as nothing but a symbol of hate and oppression.

    Most of the countries have high personal freedoms, better economies, fantastic health care and very low crime due to lack of gun ownership. The police in Japan hardly carry a gun let alone anything bigger than .38 special.

    I’ve went out of these “tourist” areas and went to areas considered “dangerous” by posters on here and what I saw was no death, crime, anarchy or whatever lies the people on here like to post.

    These countries don’t have terror groups like the Gun Lobby in general arming terrorists, drug cartels or hate groups.

    The countries don’t have NRA death-squads roaming around killing or intimidating citizens at will.

    There are no kids shooting guns in UK, Canada, European, Australia or Japanese schools; it only happens in the USA!

    Where is the personal responsibility here when people like you leave weapons around for dangerous people to access?

    Why is there a need for guns? Because you all live in fear. Not a good example to the rest of the world. The land of the free we are certainly not.

    • Fantastic health care…

      Bwahahahahaha…

      Someone do the heavy lifting for me.

      I don’t even know where to begin.

    • Your Euro friends are smart, smarter than you. They have guns. They have lots of them. More often than not they are off the books. Rifles, handguns, and even fully-automatic weapons. Give me $1000 and I can probably get a select-fire AK somewhere in Brussels in about a day.

      The difference is, they just don’t talk about them. Because of their government and snitches like yourself. Your pal may just have a gun or two in the attic. He’s not going to tell you because he doesn’t trust you. Can you blame him? Your pro-government tendencies aren’t a virtue, it’s a black mark on your already obscene and horrible character.

      Go do some light reading and let us adults have a civil discussion, child.

      http://reason.com/archives/2012/12/22/gun-restrictions-have-always-bred-defian/print

  24. Let me tell how things work in Poland, then you decide is it worth it.
    Center of euorpe with lowest gun owning ratio, next to Ukraine (currently at war). In Poland we have gun law (no Constitution guarantee) with gun permits “for purpouse”- hunting, collecting, sport, selfdefense.
    Each one need to be proven by citizen to be allowed i.e.:
    Sport permit
    – sport club member with annual fees;
    -sport competition “tickets”- each year you need to prove youre still a sport shooter or permit expires;
    -quite new feature- medical exams same for weekend shooters and olimpic shooters
    Self defence permit- you need to prove that youre CONSTANTLY in OVERAVERAGE danger… we have joke here that if youve been stabbed twice, mugged tripple and raped and you have signature of attacker than MAYBE youll get one…
    Collecting permit- need to member of collector club and need to ask LEO how many guns you might have.
    The worst thing is that majority here thinks “we dont need gun, couse we would kill each other”- leftovers from the commies occupation…
    Things might change anytime becouse its a single law, majority doesnt cares and European Commision as we speak thinks how to stop terrorism by banning high-cap mags… Sounds familiar??

  25. The problem of this video is that it insinuates that US homicides are a result of gun ownership instead of declining morals. It would be more educational to have a look at the victims and perpetrators, who they are, where they came from, their circumstances, rather than just put them all in a singular statistic called “gun violence.” People need to understand why they were killed and why the perpetrator felt there was no other recourse – not how they were killed.

    • Nobody did “America” before we got here, and In 235 + years, no one has sold anything better. Most of the fruit stands out there selling other sh_t are only there by our combined providence (under GOD), or by our laissez-faire stance towards them.

  26. After living in Korea, I can say that I have experienced life outside of the US. The society/culture is so much different, but it is changing (for the worse) right now. When talking to the Koreans, I heard stories of how the youth was being less respectful (as a whole) to their elders/parents. They are afraid that their culture is degrading.

    South Korea is very much under a totalitarian government, they just came out from a dictatorship after the Korean War not too long ago. They are used to being told what to do on a large scale. From a historical perspective however, I cannot understand why a people like them (having been so abused, attacked, and enslaved) can maintain a lack of personal responsibility as to their personal (and thus national) safety.

    What is the first thing North Korea is going to do? Send their submarines to the south of South Korea and infiltrate. Once they reach shore, they will meet little resistance because everybody is ready to be rolled over. I actually had a South Korean tell me that they would pick up brooms and rakes and defend themselves, this was a citizen that had lived in SK his entire life, and was working with the US military!

    … do not learn from history… doomed to repeat it.

  27. Most Americans who travel outside the country in a given year only go to Mexico or Canada, with some going yo thr Caribbean. Much of this “travel” is on cruise ships, most of it is to resorts. That’s not the real country any more than Disneyland is America.

    Even expatriates don’t typically get the in-country experience. In Saudi Arabia, for example, expats live in large, company-provided, walled communities. Really, they’re small cities unto themselves with everything an American suburb has. So few ever venture outside, which is discouraged, anyway.

  28. I’ve spent some serious time in Sweden. But even with the hot women, pickled herring, insane amusement park rides and high tech non nuclear submarines, I’ll take the good old USA any time. And the 2A is a big part of what makes America great.

  29. I’m originally from the Netherlands and I can say with authority that the US is on average a safer place to live.
    In the Netherlands shootings are commonplace in bar/club settings between the many criminal factions that immigrate to the Netherlands due to our lenient law and mild punishment compared to their own countries, We get many immigrants from Morocco, The Dutch Antilles, Turkey and now an influx of Polish and Russian mobsters.
    While some are good people wanting a better live, In my experience many of them are nothing but trouble.
    The native Dutch people are not very violent outside of drunken brawls or soccer hooligans and most of them don’t own any firearms besides the rare sport shooter or hunter, But I know for a fact some do own firearms which very often are illegal firearms obtained from Belgium back in the day, The US and Germany and were never registered.
    Needless to say, Most shootings occur in criminal circles or terror related Assassinations such as Pim Fortuyn and Theo Van Gogh.
    In the Netherlands you are much more likely to go on foot or by bicycle since gas is extremely expensive and so is owning a car, This will expose you more to muggers, Pickpockets and thugs.
    Since even carrying a simple pocket knife could get you in trouble it’s very difficult to protect yourself during the fact and this makes criminals more brazen than here in the US with regards to committing their crimes and often people are beaten and sometimes killed during the crimes.
    Home Invasions are relatively rare but are often very dangerous, Defending yourself can only be with equal force and only as last resort, So if you shoot a knife wielding home invader you will likely go to jail and potentially face worse criminal charges.
    You have no idea how safe you are here in the US with a CCW or firearm in your home, No safe storage laws in most places, Mostly good self defense laws and ample access to firearms with no onerous waiting times and extended background checks, police interviews or inspections.
    The second amendment is not only worth it but essential for your personal safety.

  30. The issue with the video is that they are going on just published statistics. As our recent election proved, statistics are only as good as the data collected.

    Europeans have guns. Lots of them. They just don’t talk about it. Every so often, you hear about some old pensioner dying in England, and when the next of kin come over to figure out what to do, cousin Nigel stumbles upon Grandpa’s cache of weaponry. Evil black rifles, pistols, and even automatics turn up. Grandpa just kept his mouth shut when the government got all high and mighty about “the gun problem”.

    http://reason.com/archives/2012/12/22/gun-restrictions-have-always-bred-defian/print

    With regards to their “low” crime rates, you have to look at collection methods. Often, a homicide isn’t a homicide until the case is closed, for example. Until then, it’s just a death.

  31. I hate it when they do that. Of course a country with more guns would have more gun crimes. Just like a country with more pools will inevitably have more pool drownings. They should compare total crimes per population regardless of tool used.

  32. I lived in the Philippines for a while. The gun laws there are very strict, yet the people I knew had multiple rifles and pistols. In one village I went to in the mountains, a dude was open carrying his AR. The murder rate, even with those very strict gun laws is around 10 per 100k. In the U.S. it is 3.9 per 100k.

  33. Of all the countries in the world that should not own guns its the U.S. and the countries that should be allowed to own guns like Japan should have them but they have severe restrictions on long guns and total bans on owning pistols but they should not.

    The question is why the difference. In the U.S. the population is not homogeneous which breeds hatred and violence and an attitude that it is alright to steal from your neighbor or attack him because chances are your neighbor is not the same religion or nationality. On the other hand in Japan everyone is looked upon as being an extension of your family and people who believe this are very reluctant to steal from your neighbor or react violently in a confrontation.

    Strangely enough if you gave the Japanese the right to own any weapon they wanted too, especially pistols, chances are few Japanese would want one because they are not threatened on an everyday basis as Americans are because of the extremely high crime rate, and the ethnic, religious and racial hatreds. America is little different from their European counterparts of the WWII era and now the recent rise of Populism there.

    Statistics show that you are far more likely in America to be killed by someone you know like a next door neighbor, a co-worker or a spouse than you ever are by a robbery or break in. But the fact is a robbery can still can happen because America is one of the most, if not the most, violent country on earth it fuels the desire to own a weapon for self defense.

    The unsolvable problem is how do you preserve the right to own an arm for self defense and at the same time keep people from killing each other because of heated arguments. The fact is there is no solution that will satisfy the pro gun or anti-gun people. You either ban weapons altogether and/or make them very hard to get even for the well to do people or you have the right to own a weapon legally whenever you think you need or want one and even if you jump through hoop’s and pay ungodly fees to get a weapon no one can predict what you will do with the weapon once you have got it which is a perfect excuse for the anti-gunners to use for banning them in total.

    The people “in power’ naturally want “absolute power” over everyone except themselves of course. And make no mistake about it this includes both Conservative Demagogues and Liberal Stalinists. Every Nation save the U.S. has already done this to one degree or another and although gun owners seem to have got a temporary reprieve , if Trump does not reverse himself as he has already done on about every issue he has spoken of the march towards the complete destruction of the Second Amendment is foreordained, its just a matter of time.

    Why is it a matter of time. One good reason is terrorism. When ordinary folks get killed because of terrorism that is acceptable to the “ruling elite” but when terrorism threatens the “power elite” they then ban weapons and they ban the right to privacy as has just taken place in Britain which has now passed a Draconian law far worse than many Dictatorships taking away the “right to privacy in total”. Freedom of the Press and Democracy in Britain are all living on borrowed time. The U.S. has also already done the same thing and done away with the right to privacy but has not done it legally. The so called reforms after the “last of the true believers in the Constitution” ,Edward Snowden and his shocking revelations, are reforms in name only. The U.S. is now getting foreign countries to spy on U.S. citizens and then they forward the information right back to the NSA agency so technically they can say “we did not spy on U.S. citizens”, an evil foreign government did and we just found out about the information by accident.

    In a way the terrorists have won as they gave formally democratic governments the perfect excuse to do away with democracy and freedom, all in the name of “we made the country safer for you” by taking away all of your freedoms. Today statistics show that gun owners are in the minority despite the huge amount of weapons that are still privately owned. If guns were banned tomorrow it would make little difference to the average American and the “power elite” know it. Even if the “loss of the right to privacy” was known by the average American again they would say, “if your not doing anything wrong you do not have anything to worry about”. The Germans in the 1930’s thought that too when Hitler made himself a dictator but the average American and the average British subject today know very little about history as they are more worried about who won the latest football game or how soon they can buy the latest cell pone. Give the people “bread and circus” and you can take away all of their liberties and sadly for most Americans these days taking away their rights cannot come soon enough because they think they will be safer, which would be true in regards to their acquaintances killing them but not true when it comes to their evil Government killing them.

  34. I can’t for the life of me understand why you bothered posting that asinine video. Lets compare oranges to orangutans. Let’s not compare anything on a per capita basis, except where it supposedly makes the US “look bad”. Eff the leftist a-hole that posted the video. Can we please not give these morons more views? If I wanted to watch a bunch of lies and half truths I can see it on the network news without improving their ratings.

  35. My Father was a NRA member. I am not. he owned weapons like guns, rifles, and knives and I don’t. Freedom is measured by how many 85 year old ladies living alone can go out and buy milk and eggs for her husband at 8 p.m. on Sunday while he’s kept late at church counting the day’s receipts without her being raped by some illegal Nigerian immigrant with a stolen gun. Otherwise, our nation is a sham.

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