You didn’t, I just don’t like it when people make assumptions like that.

Personally I don’t intend on ever owning any weapons, the only protection I have is my education and it worked fine so far. The only people I have heard of who got into trouble were always people who were troubled in the first place, if anything I would like to focus on creating a more educated and positive society.

I know that the “the more guns the more crime” argument is flawed, there are enough prime examples such as Switzerland that prove it wrong. However there are also countries like Japan where they have extremely strict gun laws and extremely low crime rates. I think judging a country by its gun laws is just unnecessary, it all comes down to what kind of society are we talking about. The ideal situation to me would be when people stop worrying about making gun ownership illegal and whatnot but instead work on the people they are so afraid of.

Human nature is a sick and twisted thing? I would say it’s curious that you come across these kind of people mostly where there is poverty and a lack of education, don’t you think.

Japan has those problems as well, but again this is in areas where there is a lot of poverty and the Yakuza are only dangerous for the people who deliberately get involved with them. There are many countries who have low crime rates despite having strict gun laws, there’s no use in pointing these things out that are only true for a fraction of Japan, my point still stands. The lack of guns is not what provokes or reduces crime, it’s the people and the quality of their lives. How often do you hear of healthy educated men who go around killing people? It’s a concept that seems rather odd to me.

I didn’t know who Ted Bundy is so I had to read up and his childhood sounds anything but normal. Nobody is immune to mental illnesses but what Ted Bundy did is just not a common thing. And I obviously meant people who are physically and mentally healthy.

It doesn’t have to be a utopian society, I’m not saying it’s possible that there is no crime but all those people who waste so much time debating whether guns should be required or not never seem to show much interest in bettering the society they live in. They just want to have their weapons to defend themselves and that’s it. Or they just want to deny other people to have weapons and that’s it. I think this is very ignorant.

As for the rest you said, I don’t agree. A health reform was very much needed, if it works for the majority of Europe why shouldn’t it work for the US. Besides the people wanted it. After 8 years of the Bush administration I think it was time to at least try a different approach. America is the most powerful country and I mean that in many ways. The economy might be messed up at the moment but this is a problem that has been building up over a longer period. This problem didn’t appear over night and it won’t disappear over night. You just can’t compare this to the fall of Rome, different times, different factors – different conclusions.

You seem pretty pessimistic about a lot of things though. What’s your motivation, do you really believe everything is only going to get worse from now on and if so why don’t you do something about it?

Merry Christmas to you too.

About Switzerland, Switzerland hasn’t engaged in any wars like most of the rest of the world, it’s a democratic country with a very liberal government, same sex marriage is legal etc. etc.
Do you understand what I am getting at? It’s the quality of life that makes the difference, not how many guns you are allowed to own.

If you really want to get down to it why aren’t you a little more honest and also name countries like: Chad, Sudan, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Liberia, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, Peru and so on. Guns are legal there too and oh my what perfect picture of public safety they are.

I don’t think you really get my point yet though, so here it is once more. Do I agree that owning guns should be legal in whatever country because I support the rights of people to defend themselves? Yes. Do I think that guarantees their safety without considering any other major factors? NO. See examples above. This is why subjects like this ALWAYS go hand in hand with what kind of society are we talking about.

If you think a gun is all you need so you and your family can be safe you are a fool.

“Who cares if the Swiss are liberal?”

Doesn’t it strike you as odd that Switzerland which is very liberal is doing well even if guns are legal where as those other countries that are anything but liberal are not doing well even if guns are legal there as well.

“If I wanted to have Europe’s health care system, I’d move to Europe”

Then why don’t you move to Switzerland if you like their gun laws.

“but you’re missing my point that guns are necessary to keep the government’s power in check”

Ah so now it’s to keep the government in check, before it was just for personal protection against psychos. How exactly do you think does that work, how do you keep your government in check by being heavily armed, when was the last time a man or group of men made a difference by owning guns because they wanted to keep the government in check. And most importantly, those countries I mentioned where guns are legal but it’s still not safe for them and as you said, they are controlled by oppressive regimes, why is it that THEY can’t keep their government in check even though they own guns?

Yes I think that Switzerland being liberal makes a big difference, show me an example where a country with a conservative government does equally well while guns are legal.

I’m sorry but your argument just doesn’t convince me. What you’re implying is that owning a gun allows you to threaten people you disagree with, no matter if they are mentally ill or your government. In my opinion that’s not how you solve problems, a threat for a threat leaves the whole world terrified.

Wonderful. I’m studying it also but I can’t write it just yet! I’m teaching myself actually and I thought I would start with the pronunciation and spelling with Latin letters and once I master it I’ll get to the Japanese characters. I find it pretty easy, Japanese grammar is nothing compared to English/ German grammar.

Wow, ok das ist sehr beeindruckend. Deutsch ist nicht meine Muttersprache. Romanian is actually my first language. I’m mixed so I grew up speaking several languages which is why I’m interested in languages like Japanese which I have no connection with.

Indeed I use Pimsleur, it’s a pretty flawless system I can only recommend it. Though it’s recommended to only listen to the lessons, repeat things when you are told to and that’s it. I don’t do that, I take notes so I can convert everything I learned into Kanji more easily, like I mentioned before. The stuff they teach you is pretty conventional, that’s not enough for me, so I also go on English-Japanese forums on the Internet to get an idea of how a Japanese person would actually say certain things. It’s usually a little different from textbook Japanese for obvious reasons. Another thing that is amazingly fun is to watch Japanese films with subtitles. I know someone who learned Japanese only by watching Japanese films and listening to Japanese music.