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Comment by int_19h | Hacker News Reader

Czechia is a European country you want to look at for an example that you can have gun laws that allow civilians to own handguns and carry them for defensive purposes without problems.

US is somewhat unique in the Western world across the board - no public healthcare, generally poor social safety net etc - which means that exercises in causal linking of those unique traits to outcomes are wild guesswork, if one is taking a charitable perspective. A non-charitable one is that people mostly just cherry-pick things that compare favorably for whatever political cause they're advancing, and will often outright refuse to believe a similar comparison that is contradictory.

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First up, Czechia has proper licensing and strict background checks. Maybe not the best choice to compare to the US.

I don't have to take a wild guess around this kind of thing: I'm specifically referring to the gun culture of the US and comparing it to that of Switzerland. There's a different attitude to gun ownership in the two countries, one of which places strong emphasis on responsible ownership and the other which doesn't. That difference has little to do with mess of a healthcare system the US has, nor its poor social safety net (though it's interesting to note that those most obsessed with with getting rid of the safety net and public healthcare correlates with those most obsessed with the US second amendment). Now, what might be interesting to observe is that in Switzerland, rights come with responsibilities, whereas in the US, this attitude is much less prevalent, hence how much more common "rights absolutists" are there.

Personally, I have no issue with people having guns. What I do have a problem with is people who fail to recognise that exercising their right to have those guns comes with a responsibility to the wider community.

Sure, and I didn't claim that Czechia is the same as US in this regard. I'm merely pointing out that you can have a country with a gun culture that, among other things, enables personal self-defense without all the associated problems that US has which people often assume are intrinsic to gun ownership and defensive use.

I disagree that the situation in US has nothing to do with healthcare and social safety net, though. For example, suicides constitute most gun deaths in general, but this is worse in US because of its generally poor situation with preventative health care, especially mental health care. Similarly, poor social safety net means a lot more people ending up in poverty, which drives up crime including violent gang clashes that cause the majority of gun-related deaths in US. This isn't to say that the prevailing attitudes among American gun owners do not contribute to the problem, either - but I'm sure that, if US would catch up with e.g. Canada when it comes to taking care of its own population, the numbers would strongly reflect that.

And yes, it is ironic and sad that support for RKBA is strongest on the right, which is also the cause for all this. It's not exclusively them, though. The running joke on the subject in many hard left spaces is that "if you go far enough left, you get your gun rights back".

> Czechia is a European country you want to look at for an example that you can have gun laws that allow civilians to own handguns and carry them for defensive purposes without problems.

Let's see:

--- start quote ---

A gun in the Czech Republic is available to anybody subject to acquiring a firearms license. Gun licenses may be obtained in a way similar to a driving license – by passing a gun proficiency exam, medical examination and having a clean criminal record.

the issuing authority (police) firearm owners' database is connected to information needed for a background check and red flags any incidents that may lead to loss of license requirements. Similarly, health clearance by the general practitioner is needed for periodical renewal of license (every ten years).

* also very specific restrictions depending on license *

Obtaining the license requires passing a theoretical and practical exam.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_law_in_the_Czech_Republic

--- end quote ---

Oh look, already more strict than many states in the US (and some states are busy removing any restrictions).

(I don't know why your comment got flagged, since it's factual. Whoever did this - please don't, this is not a feature meant to be used indicate your disagreement.)

I'm not claiming that Czech gun laws are identical to US. I'm claiming that you can have shall-issue concealed carry and broad access to "assault weapons" for civilians without gun violence problems as seen in US.

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