On 25 May 2022, the United States of America once again became famous when an 18-year-old literally executed 19 kindergarten children and two adults at a Texas school. The true background will be difficult to ascertain. The circumstances, on the other hand, are much more so.
The act of Salvador Ramos, apart from a hate-filled psychopathology, is the result of a gun policy that has been completely out of line for decades.
This distorted gun policy produced figures like Charlton Heston, who travelled well-paid to the scenes of escalated gun violence and preached the usefulness of using guns. As much as I loved films like Ben Hur as a child, I found them disgusting in later years when I learned about Charlton Heston. Out of an inner conviction, I found this double moral only more repulsive.
In a well-grounded social society, the use of weapons is actually obsolete. In Europe, too, there has been a corresponding trend in recent years to obtain a gun ownership card. However, the hurdles here are correspondingly higher than in the United States, but still too low for my taste.
The requirements are:
– Application by a „reliable“ EEA citizen.
– Minimum age 21 years
– Credible justification for possession of a category B firearm (e.g. for self-defence within residential and business premises or enclosed property).
– Psychological expertise that the applicant does not have a tendency to handle weapons carelessly or to use them recklessly, in particular under psychological stress
– Proof of appropriate handling of firearms (e.g., confirmation of training by a firearms dealer, often colloquially referred to as a „firearms licence“).
– In the procedure, among other things (a psychological assessment must be provided that the applicant does not have a tendency to handle weapons carelessly or to use them recklessly, especially under psychological stress (weapons law reliability test). Lists of institutions that prepare such psychological assessments are available at the weapons authorities and can be inspected there.
– In addition, the applicant must prove to the authority that he/she can handle firearms properly. This proof is usually issued as a confirmation by the firearms dealer that the person has been trained in handling firearms.
Furthermore, a justification for the possession of a category B firearm (e.g., keeping it ready for self-defence) must be given. In Switzerland, for example, 95% or more of the corresponding applications are rejected.
Perhaps the United States can learn in this particular case from Europe?
