I lived in Germany. There, people pay good money to earn the privilege to drive. You must be 18 and it costs well over a grand. As a result, German drivers are predictable. You’ll never see a German driver passing on the right. You’ll never see a German driver holding up traffic in a left or even middle lane. You won’t see a German change lanes without using their indicator. And of course, Germans respect that government has a job and is not the enemy, so they don’t reject taxation for infrastructure. As a result, Germany has MUCH better roads than we do. Seriously. The German autobahn is twice as thick and better banked. To be fair, we have thousands of miles more of Interstate, so we do have a harder job. Still. Also, you can’t drive a jalopy in Germany, which has strict inspection rules, that even include aesthetics, but the emphasis is on safe functioning.
We can’t realistically have the same regime though, we have much larger distances and lots of backroads and farms and country roads. I think we don’t need the same standard of road, but we do need roads that are well-maintained, and we need much better driving skills. Our cops should focus less on cherry-picking speed traps (many areas here in FL are nationally famous for bullshit speed traps – e.g. Waldo, FL) and more on ticketing bad drivers. Driver etiquette is the real differentiator between the U.S. and Germany. A German won’t say, “I’m driving the speed limit so screw you, go around.” Germans, like other Europeans, understand they have a civic responsibility. Too many Americans reject civic responsibility as being “against freedom” and “un-American.” The closest parallel in the U.S. to how the Germans behave is the Mormon population, which places a very high premium on civic responsibility, public dignity, decency, the idea of body politic as one functioning unit. The concept of the Hive (ergo, Chuck’s Beehive). - Patrick On Behalf Of Mathew Howard Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2015 4:32 PM To: af <af@afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Campus Shootings What's right for one country, isn't necessarily right for another. While I would love to be able to drive as fast I think is safe, knowing how the typical American drives, I'd guess that it would be far more deadly here than in Germany. I suspect the same logic applies to other stuff to some extent. On Oct 10, 2015 11:05 AM, "Stefan Englhardt" <s...@genias.net<mailto:s...@genias.net>> wrote: Countrys with weak gun control have more shot people. Simple logic in my eyes. Nothing to say against if the majority of a country takes this into account. Just strange in the eyes of a foreign citizen. In my country you can buy a BMW and drive as fast as you think it is ok on highways. this kills, too. Same arguments here. It is the freedom to drive. Von: Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com<mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com>] Im Auftrag von Mike Hammett Gesendet: Samstag, 10. Oktober 2015 16:47 An: af@afmug.com<mailto:af@afmug.com> Betreff: Re: [AFMUG] OT Campus Shootings Except that most mass shootings are done with weapons that were obtained in circumstances that even the most strict of control laws would allow. The weapons painted as being so evil just plain aren't used in these situations. Logic doesn't lead you to gun control. ----- Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions http://www.ics-il.com ________________________________ From: "Darin Steffl" <darin.ste...@mnwifi.com<mailto:darin.ste...@mnwifi.com>> To: af@afmug.com<mailto:af@afmug.com> Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2015 8:12:08 AM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Campus Shootings I carry a .380 pistol with me most of the time but I only own three guns myself. I also consider myself to have many Democratic views when it comes to gun policy and Republican views with taxes & business aspects. I personally think it should be MUCH harder to purchase a firearm than it is. When I purchased my new glock, I ordered it online at Gander Mountain and walked into the store, they did a quick background check and I walked out in 10 minutes. It was great to me as a consumer and easy. BUT, what if I was angry or in the heat of the moment and wanted to harm people. Now that easy gun purchase allowed me to walk out the same day with a deadly weapon. I do not think our government is trying to take guns away as the crazy Republicans like to lie about. I do think we should have much stricter gun control though to keep the nutty people from having easy access. All that is going to do is make it take longer to purchase a legal firearm, which I am perfectly fine with if it prevents even one shooting death or mass shooting. If there's other policies being proposed that can help limit access to guns, I'm all for it if it still allows me to purchase a pistol to carry legally and a shotgun to go hunting. I don't believe I should be allowed to own a machine gun type weapon for use at my home. Weapons like that should be allowed only at shooting ranges and locked up under heavy security. They do not belong at a residential home anywhere for sport or home protection. So anyway, I think there are gun nuts out there that like to walk around while open carrying and say Obama is trying to steal all our guns. I think they're crazy and need a bonk on the head to come to your senses. Try acting normal and conceal your weapon, don't talk like a crazy gun nut and try to realize you don't need a machine gun. The government's job is to protect as many citizens as possible. That means more laws, more enforcement, and more compliance. We can't easily identify and stop all people who will commit a shooting crime. We can more easily target guns themselves and prevent the sale of them to as many "bad" people as possible. For "good" and legal people who want to buy one, stop complaining about gun control and embrace it in order to help save lives. Gun control isn't meant for good people, only the bad people. You'll still be able to buy any weapon you "need" in order to hunt or protect your home. On Sat, Oct 10, 2015 at 5:48 AM, Gino Villarini <ginovi...@gmail.com<mailto:ginovi...@gmail.com>> wrote: Freedom is not the exercise to choose whatever you want. Heck then free all the child molesters! Human beings need to be controlled, that the whole reasoning behind laws. Im with Jaime and Stefan on this. On Sat, Oct 10, 2015 at 6:28 AM, Mike Hammett <af...@ics-il.net<mailto:af...@ics-il.net>> wrote: There are many items that kill more humans than first world guns. ----- Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions http://www.ics-il.com ________________________________ From: "Stefan Englhardt" <s...@genias.net<mailto:s...@genias.net>> To: af@afmug.com<mailto:af@afmug.com> Sent: Friday, October 9, 2015 11:21:43 PM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT Campus Shootings Looking at this with a foreign view I can't understand this "gun love" in US. It is not all about the criminals or idiots. Just look at the statistics for accidents with weapons. The only way to save lifes is to be very restrictive. If someone wants to shoot he can go to a shooting club and leave the weapon there. It is not freedom to have a gun at home. It is silly esp. with kids around. You can't avoid killing with banning weapons but you can reduce it. If I need a weapon I call for police or security. -- Darin Steffl Minnesota WiFi www.mnwifi.com<http://www.mnwifi.com/> 507-634-WiFi [http://www.snoitulosten.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/facebook-small.jpg]<http://www.facebook.com/minnesotawifi> Like us on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/minnesotawifi> ************************************************************************************ This footnote confirms that this email message has been scanned by PineApp Mail-SeCure for the presence of malicious code, vandals & computer viruses. ************************************************************************************ ************************************************************************************ This footnote confirms that this email message has been scanned by PineApp Mail-SeCure for the presence of malicious code, vandals & computer viruses. ************************************************************************************
