No amount of regulation will stop America’s firearm death toll, right?
What if I told you that I know of a sprawling and busy multiethnic and multicultural community of over 50,000 American citizens that has not had one citizen-on-citizen firearm death in the 25 years that I have been associated with it? (Redacted community police blotter entries for the past six years can be viewed here: www.kaiserslauternamerican.com/...)
This is a community that has reasonable firearm regulations which allow private ownership and home storage of rifles, shotguns and handguns. Regulations which on the other hand prohibit weapon ownership by persons less than 18 years of age, or by criminals, or by those receiving psychological treatment. Regulations that outlaw concealed carry, and open carry unless at an approved shooting range or for use in hunting. Regulations that require a firearm ownership license which is issued contingent upon successful completion of a training program that includes a background check, academics, supervised shooting, a test, and ownership of a weapons safe to store any firearms acquired.
Lest you think this community is a figment of my imagination or some isolated commune, attached are two photographs, one of its community center, the second of its airfield.
So where is this place? It is the Kaiserslautern Military Community, the largest community of American citizens outside of the USA located in and around Ramstein Air Base, Germany. It also includes the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Kapaun Air Station, Vogelweh Housing Area, Pulaski Barracks, Kleber Kaserne, Daenner Kaserne, Panzer Kaserne, Sembach Kaserne, Miesau Army Depot, and the Rhine Ordnance Barracks.
The firearm laws in effect are essentially a combination of the most stringent requirements of the DoD, the German government and the European Union. And they work.
Please tell me why they wouldn’t work in the United States.