Coltsmith

Now that you mentioned it, I can see that! But that proves my point, as mass shootings occur less because there are less people. Yes, but the population was higher in these last years prior the gun ban, and I don't get the point, because I guess with globalization it was also easier to acquire guns in the latest years prior the gun buyback. the years prior the seventies had also stricter restrictions on guns in Australia. Witgh lifting those in the early 70s, as you mentioned, mass shootings skyrocketed! That's up for debate, as the definition of mass shooting can vary. So some sources claim there were no mass shootings, but killings with 3 people dead and few injured occurred, that is correct. Problem is, you can't get the gunpowder anytime except on the days before New Years Eve, and those guns cost a fortune, at least a few thousand bucks... Join a gun club and shooting regularly is easier and doesn't cost that much :P (Fun fact, although Germany has the strictest gun laws in Europe, we have the most legally owned guns in the EU.) I am just saying, that the first clause changed over time, but the second one didn't. I know it is seen as a different right (the are always minorities in the juristic faculties who disagree). I'm just saying that the second amendment is often seen as unchangeable, which it obviously isn't. It gives you the right to be free of infringement on your right to bear arms ;) It always good to have a healthy debate, so I can only thank you back! Well look at numbers of mass shootings in California and in Australia and compare them ;) and the EU has a population if around 600 million. Some of the countries have pretty relaxed gun laws, such as switzerland, sweden and some Yugoslavian states. Still, we don't have such high rates of gun violence as the US. (Civil Wars aside, that is a whole different ballgame). Just to be clear, I don't like pretty restrictive gun laws (like those in Germany - I am a weapon-carrying person though). But no restriction at all is not a good recipe in keeping the streets safe.

In figures about Australia, you miss one point: The population of the United States and that of Australia are somewhat quite different as the state of California has the equal population density as whole Australia. And I am not only talking about mass shootings, it also important to view murder rates and suicide rates. Contrary to popular belief, Australia has more guns today than it had prior the gun buyback. Still, homicide rates and suicide rates dropped after those measures took place. And I don*t know where you get your stats on mass shootings, but according to this website http://www.snopes.com/crime/statistics/ausguns.asp, there were 13 mass shootings in the prior 18 years, not 2! Furthermore, although robberies soared shortly after the buyback (I guess criminals didn't want to sell their guns duh!) those figures are on a steady decline and sank lower than the pre-buyback figures shortly after the year 2000. And yes, those buyback measures wouldn't help the US mostly because of the geographical nature of the country, but at least restrictions would skyrocket black market prices and would prohibit mentally unstable patients to acquire guns in the first place. The argument that trying would fail anyways is a little low for Americans, as the stereotypical United States citizens isn't renown for being a wuss!? So at least try to implement restrictions on guns, you never know if it might help! ;) I just researched on the gun laws in Germany and found out that these laws include your rifles mentioned above, so we Germans can any gun developed in the 18th and early 19th century as well! But that's not really the point, because there aren't any militias in the U.S. either, just the National Guard, which isn't technically a militia but a reserve. So this part changed, why do you stick so much to the second clause?

Well, we can't look into the heads of the lawmakers then, so we don't know what they meant exactly, some sources even claim it is meant that every state can form a militia and that it is mainly restricted to that. We have airburst full-auto grenade launchers (XM 25) today, but nobody has aquired them in these days, and most people don't know about those, furthermore were those full-auto cannons highly ineffective and maintenance heavy, that citizens couldn't afford those easily, so I guess the lawmakers then had muskets in mind not your "special" weapons. And the world has changed since these times and the first amendment has evolved in times, so should the second amendment, and that doesn't mean including full-auto rifles but maybe also restrictive sales, because the whole world has proven to you, that it works, but no, America is sooooo special it wouldn't work there, gimme a break!!!

Gun regulations might not stop black market sales, but black market sales will be much more expensive, meaning the everyday gangbanger cannot afford a gun in the first place. Germany has one of the strictest gun laws of all countries in the world, if you want to carry a gun in germany you either have to be a leo or a highly endangered person. Therefore buying guns on the black market means putting at least 4 digit sums of money on the table to have access to a handgun, and therefore, shootings in Germany are almost non-existent. However, if you want to buy a crossbow or a musket in Germany, you don't even need an ID, so even us Germans enjoy or "2nd Amendment" haha, I wouldnt have a problems if every american had the right to bear a musket, as the 2nd Amendment originally meant it :P

Sovereign citizensa re the funniest! We have those types in Germany aswell, telling us officers, that the Federal Republic doesn't exist and it it is still the German Reich at power haha. We are also all personnel of a big corporation, because our ID says "Personnel-identification" (to translate it roughly) The biggest problem with those are though, when they get physical against government employees... for example at seizures because they didn't pay taxes...and they tried to form their own police force, but that got shut down quick

yeah, same here, i wasn't sure of the number though...

Well I am living in the capital of Germany and we have approx. 1000 protests a year, shockingly, the police does not respond to most of them, but yeah, most protests are not peaceful....

maybe it happend, but only in Chechnya :P

really not smart using a single incident as a point to say european police doesn't have it as good as the US one

I agree with what you are saying, but having two man cars instead of one man patrols can be cost effective, because you do not need so many patrol cars roaming around

yes I know what you mean! we all learn English for at least 5 years in school, but I guess our school systems isnt really keen on speaking lessons so the pronounciation and the usage of words are not really that good! I'd compare us Germans more to French, who understand English, but refuse to speak it!

Well Berlin is broke as shit, we cant even afford to maintain shooting ranges for annual shooting qualifications (which are required to maintain your status as a gunholder in the police) but training officers annually is a priority for the department and if a broke berlin can do it, so can most american departments, because if you e.g. compare the equipment used in both countries and especially Berlin, we police like you did in the 70s, not even kidding. We never heard of mdcs or ANPR or tasers. And yes I did watch Alaska State Troopers, and i liked it alot! But that supports my point, that you always should have a patrolcar with two officers sitting in it!