..."After all, how can we
compete anymore with reality?"
The German government is planning to ban paintball and laser shooting games in reaction to the recent school massacre in which 15 people died.
Dear god, the stupidity...
Under legislation agreed by the ruling coalition of the chancellor, Angela Merkel, using air rifles to shoot paint-filled pellets at opponents is likely to be made illegal, and would be punishable with fines of up to €5,000 (£4,480).
And after that, they'll no doubt turn their attention on PC games. And any toddler who picks up a vaguely gun-shaped stick, points it at a fellow toddler and shouts 'Bang!' is going straight to jail, do not pass 'Go', do not collect 200 Euros...
I never thought I'd say this, but I preferred the Germans when their favourite pastime was to climb into tanks and then go off and invade a neighbouring country.
ReplyDeleteYes, they were a pain in the arse, but someone should tell them that there IS such a thing as overcompensating.
"...someone should tell them that there IS such a thing as overcompensating."
ReplyDeleteIndeed...
Ah, the Liberal way - find something superficially similar but in fact completely different, and ban it. They puff their little chests up in pride that they have "done something".
ReplyDeleteThen when the next shooting occurs, they'll uselessly ban something else.
I'm a keen airsoft player. Good exercise and you got to shoot people. we had the devil's own job getting our low powered air guns out of the cluthes of government legislation. This stupid move by Merkel will endanger a harless but occasionally painful passtime(s).
ReplyDeleteDid we export the virus that gave us the handgun ban after Dunblaine?
ReplyDeleteI have more experience with guns than most and know that on its own a gun is a lump of metal and is of use only as a paperweight. People are the dangerous bit and this "bansturbation" is just the political clowns following the usual pseudoliberal idea that "something must be done" regardless of wether it will actually be effective.
The highly effective handgun ban here has failed because the government forgot one little, inconvenient fact regarding criminals. It is this: They Do Not Obey The Law! It is in the job description for heaven's sake.
You could throw virgins down a well with as much chance of stopping gun crime.
TTFN Mike :)
It's easy to take the piss out of the Germans for this but I feel a touch of there but for the grace of any gods go the rest of us. If we had another Martin Bryant or Huan Yun Xiang here tomorrow I guarantee that Rudd would ban something, and worse still there'd be plenty of Australians demanding that something is done. If the UK had another Michael Ryan or Thomas Hamilton there'd be millions Britons demanding the government do something, and whether led by Broon, Cameron or Clegg it would find a more or less random something and then do it. We've still got some guns left to ban here but in the case of the UK there's nearly bugger all left so water pistols, airsoft and paintball would probably be in their sights (pardon the pun). In fact I'm surprised Nulab aren't doing it anyway. There's only one country and a little bit of water between the UK and Germany, and the bansturbating bastards seem happy to use the flimsiest of excuses. Maybe just as well they're a bit busy at the moment ;-)
ReplyDeleteAngry Exile said...
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to take the piss out of the Germans for this but I feel a touch of there but for the grace of any gods go the rest of us. If we had another Martin Bryant or Huan Yun Xiang here tomorrow I guarantee that Rudd would ban something, and worse still there'd be plenty of Australians demanding that something is done.Doubtless. One little thing that is overlooked though, is that in poll after poll in Germany the public have shown they are between 70 and 80% AGAINST any gun ban.
Hpwever because we have the ridiculous and unworkable "proportional representation" system, any wee wanker in Parliament can get any law through he wants, just by threatening not to vote for the Government in the next big/important issue.
Add to that, that ANY one that expresses a view that is further right winh than Mother Theresa is automatically branded a "neo nazi" and dismissed out of hand.
Plus there is no "public consultation period" here.
A politician may think of something at breakfast, put it before Parliament at 10, it goes to the next stage at 11, signed by the Bundespräsident at 15:00 and something that was quite legal as you were going to work that morning will get you arrested on the way home.
They CAN work that fast WHEN they want.
The other way is something like in the main article here. It is discussed for a week or two. Then no one hears of it again for MONTHS, or even a year or two. Then all of a sudden you will find that from 08:00 tomorow (in this case) paint ball is banned. No preamble, nothing. Just the announcement.
Bring back the Monarchy, Bismarck, and First past the post Parliaments for FEKS sake!!!
Von Brandenburg-PreuĂen.