Winnenden German School Shooting
Hard to believe that this type of tragedy (from Spiegel's website in English) happens in Germany almost as often as in the US given that gun licensing (in German) is much stricter and tighter than in the US.
Having witnessed the aftermath of a shooting outside my own university dorm a long time ago (which resulted in an acquaintance of mine being seriously wounded and her ex-boyfriend committing suicide), I feel very strongly about gun ownership. I hope this opens the possibility of higher taxes for gun owners and making private gun ownership a much more difficult privilege to enjoy. I think banning guns will never be a reality as there are too many gun manufacturers lobbying to keep them around.
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4 comments:
'Hard to believe that this type of tragedy (from Spiegel's website in English) happens in Germany almost as often as in the US given that gun licensing (in German) is much stricter and tighter than in the US.'
I disagree. This happens much more in the US than Germany and the gun laws are quite strict here.
No matter, it's still a tragedy.
Hi J,
do you think that school shootings go underreported or unreported in the US? I just remember Erfurt and Emstetten where there were quite a few victims, almost as many if not more than Columbine.
My solution... tax the heck out of gun ownership, making gun licensing so strict that only the most intelligent can have the privilege and test them regularly for mental competence. Gun owners who are parents should be held accountable by being taxed even higher - a risk tax that they assume for having a gun and children in the same house.
I think in Germany TV ownership is taxed but not gun ownership - anybody know for sure?
School shooting happen quite often in the US, but it's only the ones with a high death count that make the news (I've lived in Philadelphia and remember many making the local news, but not international).
Offhand, I can remember VA Tech, Columbine, NIU, something within the Amish community of PA, etc.
As far as gun laws go, my understanding is that hobbyists can have up to 3 and the gun(s) and ammo have to be stored in different safes. There are no restrictions on how many guns hunters can have and, one of my students mentioned that this kid's dad was a hunter. He also mentioned that everyone who shoots a gun has to have a license and all the guns also have to be licenesed.
This post was not about whether it happened more in the US versus Germany.
This was about gun control and whether it is or should be taxed/controlled.
I agree - we here in Germany need tighter controls from now on.
I am German and will check it out. I only know owners have to get a Waffenschein (one of my friends, the owner of a weapon factory had to go through a three-month course to obtain her license), but other than that, I have no clue. Private weapons are a mystery to me.
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