this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2023
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German here, I'm pretty sure I've never seen a gun irl, except when used by the police or military. They are just not really a thing here. Nobody I've ever met owns one, nobody wants or needs one, nobody even talks about them.
There are legal ways to get a gun, but I never had to care about the details. That's pretty amazing imo, if you consider how big of a topic and problem they are in the US.
Fellow German here, I can remember seeing a Hunter carrying a Rifle. And that was many years ago. I can rember cleary because i have never seen a rifle irl before and after that.
There are stories from a company I used to work for, where the CEO was walking through the office with a rifle. He apparently kept his hunting rifle in a gun safe in his office on days when he was planning on going hunting. And I have fired several guns at a shooting range in Hamburg. As I didn't join the army this was my first time operating a firearm. Quite intense and interesting experience. Overall I agree with you, seeing firearms not carried by the police is such a rare experience here.
Well, we have the "no speedlimit on Autobahn" thing instead. But at least that is less harmful
I would gladly take my chances on the autobahn over the freeways in California. I feel that I'm much more likely to get killed in California by somebody texting while driving.
I feel like the nature of the autobahn makes it so drivers actually have to pay attention, but I could be wrong.
Also, the kind of cars that are popular in Europe actually drive and perform well. Our freeways are filled with pickup trucks and large SUVs, where the driver can't see anything in a 10 foot radius around their truck, and if they have to perform a quick maneuver at top speed, it's pretty much impossible.
Road safety here means to just be in a bigger vehicle, not to have a nimble well handling vehicle like most Europeans seem to prefer.
Apparently the number of deaths on the Autobahn is pretty average compared to other european countries, but it could still be much lower with speed limits.