Posted on 08/29/2016 5:00:28 AM PDT by marktwain
image from theguardian.com
A populist German politician is saying that German citizens should have the right to weapons to protect themselves. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is a political party that has achieved some recent electoral successes. It rejects subservience of Germany to the European Union, and rejects the recent mass immigration. From reuters.com:
"Many people are increasingly feeling unsafe. Every law-abiding citizen should be in a position to defend themselves, their family and their friends," Frauke Petry told the Funke Media Group in an interview published on Saturday.The excuse that has been common in European countries is that severe restrictions on guns has been necessary to reduce crime. In fact, over the last hundred years, violent crime, as measured by the homicide rate, has always been low, both before and after gun control was initiated, mostly between the two world wars. Claiming that restriction on guns is necessary to reduce crime is a simplistic bit of propaganda to justify disarming the population. The elites have always been able to get guns.
"We all know how long it takes until the police can get to the scene, especially in sparsely populated places," she said.
The number of Germans applying for so-called "small firearms license", which are required to carry around blank guns and pepper spray, jumped 49 percent in the first half of 2016 to 402,301, according to federal statistics.One of the reasons that those who wish a disarmed population are so opposed to having an armed United States citizenry, is that the United States serves as an example to other countries.
However, permits for firearms fell to 1.894 million as of the end of June compared to 1.898 million a year earlier.
Maybe the tide is turning, with Trump at the helm this tide will wash over the world.
Especially when you import a million homocidal maniacs intent on chopping of your heads, raping your women, and causing turmoil in your country. Merkel should go down in history as the female chancellor who killed Germany for accepting bribes from its enemies. I don't know why the Germans haven't burned her house on, and pulled her from it to deliver her to the Muzzies she do loves for fun and games. Its coming...
Especially when you import a million homocidal maniacs intent on chopping of your heads, raping your women, and causing turmoil in your country. Merkel should go down in history as the female chancellor who killed Germany for accepting bribes from its enemies. I don't know why the Germans haven't burned her house down, and pulled her from it to deliver her to the Muzzies she so loves for fun and games. Its coming...
Thanks for the link, I had never heard of the AFD. I did know that Merkel has created an alarming mess.
It could happen.
Maybe Trump could negotiate some international reciprocity for permit holders.
It would be great to see that for Mexico and Canada as part of the renegotiated NAFTA!
Muslims are not good neighbors or citizens for that matter.
From the image link:
Anti-immigration party in Germany hits crisis over MP’s antisemitism
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Interesting article about German division on anti-semitism in the face of the Islamist invasion.
There are a lot of issues that have significant ideological and somewhat converse practical sides, and in a truly ‘progressive’ society (i.e. not progressivism as defined by the left) we could openly discuss these things and have a meaningful dialogue.
We live in a world in which we are all at personal risk, which is why we have a military, National Guard, police, intelligence agencies, airport security and screening, and have locks on our doors, and alarm systems. All over the world people are at risk, and there are many dangers in the world. It's the elephant in the room that we tend to ignore while concentrating on the niceties of our lives in the context of the relatively thin veneer of civilization.
I believe that almost all of us are ‘anti-violence’, but being a pacifist ideologically doesn't protect your family or your way of life. Is it right for a pacifist to avoid ‘violence’ when it is required to save an innocent life, or is the pacifist culpable for the perpetuation of violence when they don't stand up to it?
On a more basic note, what is truly different about ‘paying’ someone else to wield a gun to protect you (e.g. taxpayers funding the police, uber rich people in Beverly Hills paying for private armed security guards) from carrying a weapon yourself?
My point is that there is a ‘holier than thou’ rhetoric that gets tossed at gun owners by others who don't even begin to realize their own hypocrisy, and who don't consider the realities of the world we live in.
The AfD is a recently created party (around 2009). Original purpose was the anti-Euro party...which they were able to carry about 3-percent of the national vote.
2014 came around and the members of the party wanted to add on anti-immigration. The chief of the party....the guy who started it...said no. They had an internal vote and fired the chief. New boss....new direction....anti-immigration.
Their benefit is that from the five national parties in the Bundestag...none of them are pure anti-immigration. The Bavarian CSU wants some major changes. So the public is frustrated with the four other major parties.
In the past year as they had state elections in a couple of the 16 German states...the AfD got more than 10-percent of the vote, and they are taking votes from both right-wing and left-wing. Next week is a big state vote in Meckenburg (state in the east of the country), and there’s polling to show AfD will get 20-percent of the vote. Berlin-state comes a week or two later....maybe 12-percent of their vote.
National election for 2017 (November)? If immigration is rated as top problem, the public will probably help the AfD Party get near 18-to-20 percent of the national vote. This puts the center-right and center-left parties in a difficult position because whoever does win, has to form a coalition and the numbers start to make things difficult to have a successful gov’t going in one direction.
All this said...AfD has marginal platforms on other topics, and if you were talking four-star characters in each state to be on chat forums and provide leadership....well, they’ve got some issues. A young party that needs another decade to really mature.
I am not “anti-violence”.
Violence is neutral, like gravity.
Violence can be used for good or evil.
Don’t want to put words in your mouth. What I meant is that I believe most of us don’t want to hurt innocent people, or believe in violence without purpose.
I understand. “Violence” has become a propaganda term of the left, so I like to point it out.
Globally, the Nationalist vs Globalist card is being played.
When political tectonic plates shift, it does not happen smoothly, often there are hints that shifts are coming, but when it happens it is quickly and has consequences. Often outcome is not forseen.
(from another thread)
......the noise you hear may be faint.....but it is the precursor to a massive tectonic shift....the continental plates deep down in the nations political psyche are slowly grinding....the resulting Tsunami will sweep away the rotten debris of over half a century of lies from the Dim-GOPe coalition.
True... but there's a reason why a good man considers it a last resort.
Good points all - FWIW, I’m guessing Merkel would sooner form a coalition with the commie Die Linke (she seems to be one of their sleeper agents anyway) than with the AfD. It will be AfD against the rest, i.e. not much chance of moving things in the right (no pun intended) direction. If they hooked up Adenauer to a generator, they wouldn’t need all those windmills.
It might not be her decision. Merkel herself is up for re-election in 2017, and 2/3 of Germans want her out
Woman from Calais, France speaks about the horrors of migrants. Fourteen minutes (subtitled) of the crap the people in Calais are putting up with as the authorities won't stop the immigrants. One of the biggest examples of a government betraying its people that I have ever seen.
This is a society crying out for armed citizens.
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