Gun Ownership Increasing in Europe

a reply to: JDmOKI

How is it like that?

I like having a knife around in case someone invades my house and I would have to scare them off.
Who will get in trouble? Me for possession of said knife or the intruder committing robbery? If they stole a laptop for example there is no chance of getting it back if they were successful.

Gun possession for defending myself would lead to a sentence.
Guns don't kill people, it's the person pulling the trigger.

a reply to: SpaghettiHero

I have various knives (kitchen utensils), a hammer and a crowbar, none of which are illegal in my own house. There was a recent case in the UK of a 70-plus year old guy being burgled while his wife was in bed. 2 burglars half his age. Outnumbered and out-powered, he managed to stab one with a screwdriver attempting to defend himself. (It was posted on ATS.)

The guy he stabbed died later. The court ruled self-defence, and quite rightly too.

If you kick my door open I will be standing on the other side, armed with whatever is close to hand. I would be scared #less but still...an Englishman's home is his castle, even in Holland.

a reply to: Ahabstar

I'm not well-travelled but America is strange in that the whole country does not have the same rules/laws. It sounds more than confusing. I don't know if there are other countries that apply different laws to different regions within the same country but I doubt there are many.

A bit like the Cannabis thing going on there recently. You can have it legally (well, apart from Federal law which again seems like a weird two-tier system to me) in this state but not in this one. I like simplicity. It's either illegal everywhere or it's legal everywhere. It leaves little room for confusion or error, imho.

a reply to: LightSpeedDriver

In that case, turned out the burglars were "Travellers". They got death threats and had to move out pronto. Journos covering the funeral were also threatened and intimidated.

In a situation like that you never know what you will do until it happens.

Happened to me at uni. Big house and all other students had left for end of term except me - had exams left.
Landlord's girlfriend was in her room when her ex broke in and tried to rape her. I kicked the door in and confronted him and he left vowing dire consequences for me. Bigger than me! I was terrified but as they say - "fight or flight". In the circumstances, flight was not an option.

I had to stay for a week in there on my own. Landlord put empty bottles round the windows to warn me if he broke in and gave me a crate of Bud and a pick axe handle which I slept with. Not that I got much sleep.

Landlord told me later that the guy would not be bothering anyone again.

a reply to: oldcarpy

Yes, I followed it closely and thought it was sad and disrespectful that the bastards erected a shrine in the street for the dead burglar and all the threats that ensued forcing the couple to move and hide. Shameful.

"He was a nice guy..." yada yada yada.

No he wasn't, he was a thieving scumbag no-hoper who made bad decisions in his life. Stuff the thieving "travellers" I say. Shame he died but it probably stopped future burglaries.

ETA Sorry to hear about your experience but glad to hear you helped save the day.

a reply to: LightSpeedDriver

It was disgusting.

a reply to: oldcarpy

I have a simple list of 5 groups I hate. (In no particular order.)

Thieves.

Liars.

People that abuse children.

People that abuse women.

People that abuse animals.

As far as I am concerned, all 5 groups are equally undesirable on this earth. It's just a shame the courts are so lenient in the UK sometimes.

a reply to: LightSpeedDriver

I would share that list, too.

originally posted by: neo96
Just wait for the crowd that says the US needs to be more like Europe,except in this case.

I watch the nongonvernment news channels, America does not want to be more like europe, especially the subburbs of Paris, complete police no go zones. Even ambulances are attacked, fire trucks, police cars being fare game for rioters.

a reply to: LightSpeedDriver


What part of NL are you in? I lived in Limburg for almost half my life and plenty people down there had rifles. Also, just because your neighbours aren't telling you they are doing it, doesn't mean they aren't [purchasing weapons].

But yes it would be more believable if it was the ' economic migrants' doing the purchasing for drug dealing, gangs etc.

a reply to: chris_stibrany

I've lived in Zuid-Holland, Gelderland and Brabant. I am now back in Zuid-Holland, namely Rotterdam. I've lived mainly in the more populated areas where work is more easily attainable.

I realise that people do have firearms but 70,000 (hunters, sport shooters and hobbyists in a legal gun club) isn't much out of a population of 17 million. If you have firearms at home they must be securely stored or transported in a Police approved safe and the munition must be stored separately or, the weapon may not be loaded when stored.

Illegal rifles could mean a fine of 45,000 euros. The only time you really hear of gun violence is between criminals, often but not always involved in the drug trade, which in Holland is rampant.

yessir.

I also agree that the numbers seem way over the top in the OP.


Just saying that there may be a lot of illegal sales going on we don't know about.

a reply to: LightSpeedDriver

Please put me straight if I'm wrong but isn't the dark web supposed to be secret? Buying stuff off the dark web is secret? Then how come do they come up with the figures they did? How did they know that the sales were for the EU?