Interesting discussion with some Eurpeans this week.
Just getting ready to head back to the states from the UK and I wanted to share a couple of interesting discussions I had this week with others on my team. As I expected the subject of the Newtown shooting came up but it didn’t seem to really sway any of their beliefs one way of the other.
I thought I’d break down the discussions… this is what I was told by the individuals, I haven’t double checked any of their local laws to see if they fully understand them.
The guy from Spain is completely pro-gun even though their laws are very strict and he has never even held one. He is a black belt in Jiu-Jitus and very capable of defending himself but he would prefer to have a more lethal method to defend his home and family especially when he is traveling. He also mentioned that due to the laws in Spain if he were to defend himself against an attacker he is the one who would likely be arrested and sued due to his martial arts background. He said his friend who is a police officer has advised him that if he is ever in a situation where he has to defend himself he should end it as quickly as possible and leave the scene before the police arrive.
He said it was a shame that Obama was re-elected and asked if there was any chance he could be removed from office before serving 4 more years. He said he’s seeing the exact same thing in the US that has happed in much of Europe and is concerned that the US economy will eventually cause the world economy to collapse.
The guy from the UK didn’t say much, I know he’s not pro-gun but he also doesn’t seem to be adamantly against them. He did mention that it seems that there may be changes coming in the UK and homeowners may finally be able to defend themselves. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/se...-home-released
Now the guy from Germany really threw me off. He believes that guns are evil and no one should be allowed to own them but the police and military. When I asked about being able to defend his home and family his stance was that if someone is coming into your home to kill and rape your family you probably shouldn’t have done something to upset them. I then asked, what if they’re going to kill you just because they want your car and his response again was that if that happens you probably shouldn’t have had such a nice car to attract criminals. He was also satisfied that after he and his family are killed there’s a good chance the police will eventually catch and punish the criminals.
He did conceded that if all guns are banned and seized through house to house searches (something he advocates) that the criminals will still have guns but he thinks that’s better than law abiding citizens having them too. Our beliefs were so far apart there was no way to find any common ground…. At least the guy from Spain was on my side while the guy from the UK watched us and smiled. :)
