Poland citizens want more guns

[Big_Red]

For those who do not know, I am Polish...born and raised. I am going back for a visit next year and was researching the gun laws to see if I can possibly bring a gun with me. It doesn't look good since the laws are super restrictive (no CCW of any kind for civilians) but during my research process I came by this piece of info:

WARSAW, Poland, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- A Polish private magazine, with support from criminal law experts and some politicians, has launched a campaign to make gun licenses easier to obtain. The Giwera (Gun) magazine, shooting clubs and fire arms fans, appealed to police to make more liberal gun possession for ordinary Poles, Polish Radio said Monday.

The idea is to make guns available to people in case they might need to defend their families and properties. However, restrictions on carrying guns in public would be upheld. Cezary Grabarczyk, infrastructure minister, said he might support the idea. He was appointed minister Friday when a new coalition government was formed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk of the liberal pro-EU Civic Platform.

The latest police data published in June said out of Poland's 38 million population, some 23,000 people have registered fire arms.

Polish experts said laws liberalizing gun possession lessen a crime rate in a country, giving an example of the United States where a murder rate is much higher in states with restrictive laws than in states with liberal gun possession, the radio said.

Read that last paragraph again....

 

[Mikey]

Always good to see someone from the motherland.

I can't understand why more people in a country like Poland that has been victimized so much in the last thousand years would not want the means to protect themselves against their enemies foreign and domestic. I hope they wake up and take that right back.

 

[crak]

Yeah seriously. For a place so frequently visited by Russians, It's a wonder every house doesn't have a .50 cal and a couple stinger missiles on the roof.

 

[calsdad]

It might be useful to dig up a little Swiss history and pass it on to them. There are a couple of books out there on the Swiss during WW2 - and I believe Switzerland also allows private ownership of firearms - and I believe they have a pretty low crime rate.

I know the Poles have some admiration for the U.S. - but they also have a pretty good example of civilian gun ownership is beneficial right there on their own continent.

 

[Twigg]

Read that last paragraph again....

Refreshing. They "Get it.".

 

[In_God_We_Trust]

For those who do not know I am Polish...born and raised. I am going back for a visit next year and was researching the gun laws to see if I can posibly bring a gun with me. It doesn't look good since the laws are super restrictive (no CCW of any kind for civilians) but during my research process I came by this piece of info:

+1

Say Hi to all my peeps back in the motherland.

 

[Jose]

Notice how they are still talking about asking police to relax some requirements. Notice how they do not demand that their elected representatives force the change.

The European mentality is still that people serve the state, not the other way around.

 

[Wolf99]

Yeah seriously. For a place so frequently visited by Russians, It's a wonder every house doesn't have a .50 cal and a couple stinger missiles on the roof.

+1

 

[dwarven1]

At the Yad Vashem (Holocaust Memorial in Israel), I saw a display case with weapons used in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising - I have to admit I wonder why they don't have something like the Second Amendment after all they've gone through, historically.

 

[edin508]

Another Polish guy here. 100%
Only visited there once.

 

[Mikey]

I have to admit I wonder why they don't have something like the Second Amendment after all they've gone through, historically.

To build on what Jose said Europeans are use to "serving" .gov instead of the other way around. Europe as a whole also seems to think that they are smarter and more enlightened then us, guns are bad and they don't want to be like us dirty Americans.

Even in places like Switzerland with a “gun culture” weapons are still very restricted, more then most people think.

 

[dwarven1]

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." - George Santayana
"We learn from history that we learn nothing from history." - George Bernard Shaw

I know I've posted this story, but I'll repeat it.

A friend invited me over to his house to see his pistols; he was a reenactor and had a replica 16th century wheelock and a flintlock. When I got there, I met his dad, a wizened little old man with a German accent and a number tattooed on his arm. He said to me, "Vaddaya vant to vaste your money on guns like that for?" At this point, I'm expecting an anti-gun rant. Surprise!! "Get a REAL gun! Get a Colt .45!"

Advice from someone who should know. I always remembered that advice, and I consider him one of the smartest Jews I've met. Even though I only met him the one time.

 

[Mikey]

As we all know most liberals and liberal nations have trouble learning from history and using logic, they can't help but letting their feelings and emotions cloud their judgment.

Also as we see here in the U.S. the media plays a big role in pushing an agenda and in Europe most things like private gun ownership is uniquely American and universally looked down upon.

When it comes to foreign invasion or government tyranny most people here and there believe “it could never happen again” but even that naive view is no excuse for not protecting yourself and your family.

European citizens need to stand up and take their rights; I just hope we don’t get to that same point.

 

[Garys]

Yeah seriously. For a place so frequently visited by Russians, It's a wonder every house doesn't have a .50 cal and a couple stinger missiles on the roof.

I think the Germans have made field trip or two as well.

 

[Big_Red]

Good to see a few Polaks on this forum

Poland has had "some" problems with her neighbors over the past several hundred years. You would think that because of that, the citizens would be treated somewhat like militia and allowed to own and carry guns. Not so. I must say that I am surprised by how strict the gun laws are. I guess the government thinks that if another invasion happens, the NATO will step in protect the people. Ha!

Poland is also dealing with an influx of immigrants from other Eastern European countries as well as the former Soviet Union States. Needless to say, large numbers of those immigrants turn out to be criminals, thus causing the crime rate to rise. I am not sure I would feel safe walking around my old neighborhood at night anymore. Owning a gun may become a necessity sometime in the future. I just hope the government will step in and do the right thing...Probably not though...

 

[drgrant]

The problem in europe is that the "all violence is bad" brain rot disease
seems to be more pervasive than just about anything, and I believe
that some of that is tied into their (typically) socialist
governments. One might have thought that two world wars (with
gargantuan loss of life) might have righted this problem, but
no dice. Instead we still have a bunch of countries whose subjects
basically allow perpetual nanny/welfare states to exist.

Contrast that to the US where we were basically founded upon
a principle of getting pissed off at the government. It is too bad,
however, that even spirit appears to be dying in this day and
age. [sad2]

The biggest difference can be summed up to the following....

Euroland=collective interests respected more than individual

USA = the curse of the individual still has some respect, and a
private individual owning/carrying a gun is the ultimate display of
personal freedom.

Let's not forget why our english/irish/italian/polish/etc. relatives
immigrated here.... they had one thing in common- they basically
said "europe sucks, we can do better than this". And many of
them thought it sucked bad enough for them to virtually throw their
whole "old life" away when they came to the US. That, IMO, is
a pretty powerful statement.

-Mike