I’ve shed a tear nearly every morning since the massacre took place at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut on the 14th of December. Any time I look at a newspaper or scroll through my Facebook feed or hear a clip on German or English language radio, there has been some mention of the incident. It’s the tributes to the victims that really start the waterworks – lively, shining smiling photos of young school children reminding me of my own six-year old and the unimaginable pain their deaths have brought their families.
There are other reasons why this particular shooting seems to have struck a nerve. It’s been troubling to realise how dire mental health support is in stark comparison to the ease of getting a gun is in America. The ensuing discussion over how to better protect school children has been equally disturbing: should teachers be armed, how should we teach our children to react in such a situation, and should parents be doing more such as the ex-Marine who stationed himself in uniform in front of his children’s school. It was with great sadness as I read about theses last few stories and debates. What teacher do you know would want to “pack heat?” Shouldn’t we be arming our teachers with more supplies and resources like professional development opportunities rather than with guns? And the last conversation I wanted to be having with my children was on how to react in the face of an assault rifle let alone stationing a military presence in their elementary school.
As we’ve discussed the tragedy and the subsequent national and international dialogues over gun control, my husband and I can’t help but breath a sigh of relief that we made that decision earlier this year to return to Germany. As you can imagine, it was painful to tear ourselves away from the sunshine of San Diego, but in our hearts, we knew raising three small kids would be easier in a small German city. Our decision was driven more by aspects such as being able to walk to Kindi and school and leaving behind aspects such as a consumer-driven, disposable-oriented culture for this recycling-obsessed one. Lower crime rates and correspondingly more stringent gun control laws were of course part of the equation as well, but I never thought that guns in schools, elementary schools that don’t have a gang presence I mean, would really make me take pause like this.
Of course the school shooting in Winnenden, Germany, only 70 kilometers from us now, does not put the possibility of a school shooting out of the realm of possibility, but as my husband pointed out, it is nevertheless far less likely to happen in Germany. At this point, where the frequency of shootings in the US have become harder to keep track of, there are only two which remain prominent in recent German history: Erfurt in 2002 and Winnenden in 2009.
The simple facts are that there are approximately 25 million privately owned guns in Germany compared to 270 million in America (source: gunpolicy.org). The number of homicides due to firearms was 9,960 in the US in 2009/2010 while in Germany the number was 158. Acquiring a gun is also far more difficult here than in the US. The Waffengesetz set out the laws regulating who can purchase and possess weapons including guns and they are amended and changed according to events and needs such as the shootings in Erfurt and Winneden.
These are the criteria that need to be met to possess a firearm:
- Age (min. age 0f 18)
- Trustworthiness
- Personal adequacy
- Expert knowledge
- Necessity
There are various levels of licenses such as green, yellow and red which indicate what type of gun you are allowed to own. Green allows you to own non-assault weapons and the number of frequency of acquisition is capped relatively low, and each acquisition has to be approved. A yellow license holder is permitted to own more weapons, and a red license is available to people such as collectors and experts who are allowed to acquire an unlimited number of weapons, but for collectors, often they are limited to the “theme” of their collection. You can find the entire Weapons Act in English here.
The Waffengesetz are far more detailed and thought out and require a more involved process towards actual gun possession than in the US where a much wider definition of anybody can go to a mainstream outlet such as Walmart and buy a gun. And not just any gun such as a BB gun. I do mean the same assault rifle used in Newtown.
I am looking forward to leaving a year marked with a lot of transition, tough personal decisions and societal tragedy behind and at this point would like to wish all German Way readers a safe, healthy and happy new year.
a primary reason for the mass shootings happening about once every ten years in Germany (as opposed to approx. ten a year in the U.S.) is because Germany doesn’t have the massive poverty and overall economic inequality that the U.S. boasts. that makes people desperate, and when people are desperate they are capable of doing horrible things. The strict gun laws in Germany certainly help to prevent such attrocities from ocurring as frequently as they do in the U.S., but the social framework- which is pretty much non-existent in the U.S.- must exist and be in place in order for those laws to be of use.
Thanks for taking time to participate in this discussion. Yes, so many differences between our societies, and the US is full of extremes. Just look at how the country votes.
The social/chance inequality is one reason. That explains a good portion of the overall gun homocides. Mostly gang on gang crimes or blatant murders that would have most likely been carried out with a thumbtack or a spoon if that would be an option. But there are two more factors. The more legal guns you’ve got spread, the more guns will leak into illegal use sooner or later.
That economical and social inequality theory fails to explain the mass murderings committed by mostly white, (lower to upper) middle class men. Whilst there are way too many cops patrolling the streets harassing skatboarding kids, the average response time for a 911 call is way too high in many cities.
The mental care system is almost inexistant, except for well-off heavyset rich suburban housewives that drink too much wine because their hubby is banging the secretary and their kids are emos/goths/vampires/slackers/whatever. A culture of individualism that sets such high standards for supposed personal freedoms also creates some sort of alienation and schism within society. I’m not necessarily saying that’s pure evil, every kinda social culture has it’s upsides and downsides.
And hey, if I’m gonna break into someone’s house, I better bring a gun. He might have one as well. For protection, ya know 😉 Now everybody’s storming to the gun stores and pawn shops before the gun laws are being tightened. And I bet the NRA will be happy to provide anybody who wants to read it with data, that the gun violence did not sink, after new laws are intact for let’s say maybe 2 years.
And that’s a statistic effect. Stricter laws will most likely lead to slightly more gun violence (short term, 1-3 years), but can reduce it drastically over the mid and long term (7-12 years). And because everybody will fall for that statistical fallacy, there won’t be an outcry if the next republican president will lift the bans in whatever years 2016-2020. Even a democratic president might succumb to the lobby pressure.
And when it comes to Wayne LaPierre, I’m with George Carlin. He barks at the moon and has a very small wee-wee.
Thanks for contributing to the debate. It’s hard to be optimistic, but let’s hope for some real results in the coming months.