German Call to Ban Guns And Violent Games Blocked
The parliament of the German state Baden-Württemberg has released a set of recommendations on how to prevent killing sprees in the future. Most of the 100 points are reasonable, like the plan to employ more teachers and psychologists. Others are a bit much, like the recommendation to install a signal similar to the fire alarm that tells the students to clear the school or stay in the classroom.
And of course this wouldn’t be Germany if there weren’t any jabs at videogames in there. The left wing opposition called for a ban of private ownership of high calibre firearms and video games that have been classified as dangerous. (I wonder why they didn’t say Killergames?) So once again, guns and videogames get put on the same level.
The proposal was blocked, oddly enough, by the right wing parties. The ones that are normally the first ones to cry for a ban of violent videogames. The argument used by them is that there are no “clear perpetrator profiles”, which makes “pinpoint killing spree prevention” impossible. Also a ban isn’t “a switch you can just flip.” Sounds more like they don’t want to do anything about the cause to me.
Also make no mistake, it’s not like they suddenly like videogames. It’s the fact that the ban would have affected guns as well that made them block it, as gun owners are among the prime voters of the right wing parties in Germany.
via: swr.de
Is gun crime that big of an issue in Germany?
Or is this just a combination of an over-reactive public doing what comes natural to them, and politicians doing what comes natural to them, grandstanding.
We had a few killing sprees in the recent past in Germany and now the different political parties scramble to find a quick and easy solution to prevent them in the future.
So we get politicians who scream LOOK AT ME VOTERS! I AM DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THOSE KIDS SHOOTING UP THEIR SCHOOL! PLEASE VOTE FOR ME!
So basically you have parties trying to one up each other with solutions that sound okay to a given problem until you really think about them in an attempt to gain a marginal, temporary advantage over rival parties along a similar, albeit nuanced, ideological bent.
What’s your perception of the public reception to these proposals?
I just find it very interesting because its such a contrast to how Americans react to these things. Notable school shootings occur it seems every 2-3 years here, but reactions usually seem somewhat more measured(if not over due), like instead of banning all guns, maybe we just get around to deciding to keep people with a history of mental illness from legally owning fire arms. What an idea, right?
From what I can tell, most people in Germany don’t really care what is done, as long it’s something/anything. They don’t really have an insight into the matter and just want quick solutions. As long these solutions don’t interfere with how things are right now. Also it gives them a good excuse to fear things they don’t understand. You know, old people beeing afraid of/hating new things.
In contrast to the USA, the gun laws in Germany are very strict. It’s much harder to get your hands on a weapon, but not impossible. Most of the perpetrators got the guns they used from their parents, who were gun collectors or in a gun club. That’s why some call for a complete ban on privately owned firearms. But the thing is, gun and hunting clubs are established as not evil for thegeneral public in German. Especially in ceonservative circles. So there’s no way the ruling right wing parties will touch those.
All the recommendations and calls for quick solutions dodge the real problems. The fact that kids get bullied in lschool, some times so hard that it breaks them mentaly. The fact that some parents don’t care or don’t have the time to look after them. The fact that some kids have an unstable personality… I can speak for myself when I say that kids can be real bastards to other kids. My 14 year old self had a very tough time in school. Beeing different, not many friends, very shy, not fighting back. I was a very easy target. And who knows, if I had access to gun back then, I might have done something stupid to get back at them.
If you ask me for a solution, I whouldn’t know what to tell you. But getting more teachers and psycholgists is a good start. We need people who can talk to the kids, listen to them and help them. And having parents that give a damn about their offsprings whould help a lot too. And for all I care, they can go ahead and confiscate every last gun in this country. It’s not like we need them or they serve any real purpose. Whould be interesting to see if that changes anything.
Look at me rambling so much. Well the subject is very complex. But I hope my comments were interesting to you.