Hot take: He's 100% right about firearms tbh. Politicians like to blame videogames, minorities, mental illness, political extremism, but every country has those. The difference is that it is more difficult for bad actors to get deadly weapons that they could easily unalive people with.

Austrailia banned it and the number of firearm deaths have sharply dropped since. Switzerland has ammo regulation despite them being able to own any type.

A lot of good actors would not have a problem adhering to Europe's gun regulations, but unfortunately those prefer to shoot their AR15 build at a range hassle free lol.

I didn't mention its usage against government tyranny because it is entirely useless now.When you do use firearms against the government, it is always restricted or banned afterwards. The Black Panthers demonstrated against Ronald Reagan and he ended banning open carry as a result.[en.wikipedia.org] Additionally, your AR15 is less useful than what the federal government has now.

Originally posted by Inoue:

Hot take: He's 100% right about firearms tbh. Politicians like to blame videogames, minorities, mental illness, political extremism, but every country has those. The difference is that it is more difficult for bad actors to get deadly weapons that they could easily unalive people with.

Austrailia banned it and the number of firearm deaths have sharply dropped since. Switzerland has ammo regulation despite them being able to own any type.

A lot of good actors would not have a problem adhering to Europe's gun regulations, but unfortunately those prefer to shoot their AR15 build at a range hassle free lol.

I didn't mention its usage against government tyranny because it is entirely useless now.When you do use firearms against the government, it is always restricted or banned afterwards. The Black Panthers demonstrated against Ronald Reagan and he ended banning open carry as a result.[en.wikipedia.org] Additionally, your AR15 is less useful than what the federal government has now.

If a person is down to relying on the AR 15 alone I think they are pretty screwed anyway.

The workers rights and GDP part i liked the most :
https://youtu.be/M1QvVnjiegE?t=886

If he likes it there better, good thing he chose to stay.

Originally posted by DutyCallsBackNextYear:

He went to the none land of the free to study and chose to stay.
I find his first bit about guns a little preachy.
Anyway what are your views on this from an American who can actually compare through experience and not just through NRA / Fox / CNN ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1QvVnjiegE

"None land of the free"

You realise that American's are selective in censorship, like how Elon Musk censored the term CIS even if you wrote the star wars org "Confederacy of Independant Systems" (management of the separatist droid army) it got immediately deleted, meanwhile slurs that are otherwise blocked on almost all other platforms including Steam towards LGBTQ+ are allowed.

"Land of the free, as long as you're with me"

The only thing free in MURICAAA are the beatings and hypocrisy.

It's the people in most European countries that are actually free, to be themselves and live life to the best they can. Not the other way around.

Originally posted by 𝓛𝓲𝓵 𝓜𝓲𝓼𝓼:

It's the people in most European countries that are actually free, to be themselves and live life to the best they can. Not the other way around.

Then how is it that I, an American, do exactly that?
I do what I want, when I want, at least 98% of the time.
With FAR less government interference than I would have to endure anywhere in Europe.

Originally posted by Inoue:

Hot take: He's 100% right about firearms tbh. Politicians like to blame videogames, minorities, mental illness, political extremism, but every country has those. The difference is that it is more difficult for bad actors to get deadly weapons that they could easily unalive people with.

Austrailia banned it and the number of firearm deaths have sharply dropped since. Switzerland has ammo regulation despite them being able to own any type.

A lot of good actors would not have a problem adhering to Europe's gun regulations, but unfortunately those prefer to shoot their AR15 build at a range hassle free lol.

I didn't mention its usage against government tyranny because it is entirely useless now.When you do use firearms against the government, it is always restricted or banned afterwards. The Black Panthers demonstrated against Ronald Reagan and he ended banning open carry as a result.[en.wikipedia.org] Additionally, your AR15 is less useful than what the federal government has now.

All countries that have high firearm death have a similar problem.
Gangs and only the US has easy access to guns meanwhile the others have very restrictive gun laws and more firearms deaths per capita than the US.

Originally posted by Jololo:

meanwhile the others have very restrictive gun laws and more firearms deaths per capita than the US.

And none of them are developed countries.

As a US military brat I spent my childhood and several years of university in western europe, Germany mostly but I was well traveled. But the US is my home and where my family is, so I have been here on the east coast (NC,SC,now VA) for most of my life. I've also lived in CA, AZ, and FL. I have kinfolk from Appalachia to the heart of the DC beltway. So that's my CV.

Most of my fellow americans have no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ clue what they are talking about this issue. Even back in the 80s western europeans lived far better than we as americans do. And it's not just about guns or taxes. Work life balance, fair wages, worker's rights, human rights in general, access to healthcare, meaningful participation in political discourse... in so many areas they have it better than we do.

And over time, under the stresses of the growing population, the european models have actually shown greater strength to maintain quality of life, while my home has decayed into the bastard child of Dickens and Orwell.

And what's worse, which is already apparent in this thread, some 'muricans are so opposed to other citizens even raising these discussions that they will tell them to abandon their homeland, family and birthright rather than engage in good faith discussions about what, and what not, to emulate. As if their claim to the nation is any more valid than ours.

It is fine if you want to go live with your shotguns in the AZ desert where the drag queens can't get you. Literally nobody cares. But it's gone beyond that now. We've got the xenophobes pushing their ideology into the cities, bullying millions to comply or face masked soldiers on their streets.

Americans view Europeans the same way as Europeans view Americans: ignorant.

Just like the supreme leader(s) want.

Originally posted by oldirty`:

Originally posted by Jololo:

meanwhile the others have very restrictive gun laws and more firearms deaths per capita than the US.

And none of them are developed countries.

The US depends on the state some are very developed and the others look like any third world country.

I don't take advice from people I can KO with a jab.

Never heard of this clown.

Good riddance!

Yeeee-hawwwww!

* pew pew pew *

Yeah, I saw that video like eight hours after it was uploaded, and I think it's a load of malarky. For one thing, traditionally speaking, European electronics are more expensive than American electronics, and some of that is likely an insurance fee to ensure that they can cover the cost of a few broken laptops. Over time it becomes a wash, and if you're willing to pay the extra because you absolutely can't afford to take the risk of your laptop crapping out on you in college, then extended warranties like Applecare are an option, and Apple's customer support was well renowned, at least during the Jobs era.

For another thing, while gun violence is worse in the U.S.A. than Europe, that's not just because the U.S.A. is permissive with its guns. The highest rates of gun violence are in the American south, and Europe has nothing akin to a Mexico because the Mediteranian sea buffers it from the middle east, and the Arabs aren't running drug cartels like the Latinos.

I also detailed how the U.K's. gun prohibition didn't actually help the homicide rates all too much, and that there are pockets of the U.S.A. just as safe as European nations. It is a little better, but it's like, 1.1 per 100k vs. 1.3 per 100k before. The U.S.A. is also safer now than it was in the 1980s or 1990s, in spite of the mass shootings that started up since then. You are more likely to be stricken by lightning then caught up in a school shooting, and just about as likely to be caught up in an automobile accident as shot with a gun, and if you are shot with a gun, odds are you did it yourself. I must note that he also did survive long enough to make it to Europe.

For another the U.S.A. also does fine on its wealth metrics. it ends up having a higher median disposable income of any European nation short of Luxembourg, adjusted for purchasing power parity, and I must emphasize that Luxembourg is more of a city-state than a nation proper, and the U.S.A. is on the scale of Europe. Median wealth is also fairly middling by E.U. standards. Just below Italy and Spain according to the 2025 U.B.S. Global Wealth Report[www.ubs.com]. The U.S.A. also has a larger share of people living the high life according to U.B.S.

Much of this doesn't sound like he's talking from his personal lived experience, but just from typical reported political talking points. I mean he certainly never got shot and killed in a mass shooting. I say this for two reasons.

The first is that he's alive to tell the tale about how much Europe is than the U.S.A. in the first place. He doesn't say he or anybody he knew got shot.

The second is that he certainly does't look homeless. the homelessness rates in his current nation are among the worst in Europe. Overall homelessness in the U.K. is at at 43 per 10k[www.euronews.com] vs. 23 per 10k for the U.S.A.[www.euronews.com]. On the streets homelessness might be worse in the U.S.A. The official numbers suggest that on-the-streets homelessness is twice as bad in the U.S.A., but I am not so sure about that because London is actually much worse in the number of spotted homeless people than the likes of N.Y.C. or Detroit. I wrote up a chart before.


Probably worth noting that the U.K. has a record number of homelessness deaths last year[www.bbc.com], and they're set to be even worse this year[uk.news.yahoo.com].

It's our god given right and duty to protect ourselves, family, and country from those who attempt to destroy us. To all of you who want to "ban guns in the U.S.", would you be ok with banning free speech and freedom of religion as well? Maybe ban the right to vote for who runs the country?

We didn't become and maintain being the U.S.A. by being a bunch of disarmed cannon fodder for the government to run every aspect of our lives. Many have fought and died in wars protecting our god given rights, and have also fought across the pond for many of those in your countries who today think that they know what's best for the U.S.A.

And besides all of that being said, even if somehow guns were "banned in the U.S.A." all of a sudden, there are 100's of millions of guns and ammo in this country owned by 100's of millions of people who will not give them up just because some law says so. All that banning guns would do is turn good law abiding citizens into "criminals" and would probably start another civil war.

Do you think that law enforcement wants to go door to door across the country knocking on doors knowing that the people are armed and angry? It's not going to happen, and it's not going to work out like you think it will.

He's objectively correct about all of the failings in the American system. In the US, politicians run around the block screaming about how we have the biggest public democracy in the world, but everybody with any observational faculties can see that it's really a private corporate kleptocracy.

I do think he has experienced a rose-tinted version of the UK though, as a result of both the race and the social class that he had the benefit of when he went over there.

In reality, both countries treat their non-white and/or non-affluent citizens like crap. The difference is that the bar to be considered 'affluent' in America is ludicrous and nearly unachievable due to the trickle-down scam, and the racism is more severe and more institutionalized.


Personally, I would still rather not move out of this country. It's probably a vain hope tbh, but I do genuinely hope see a day in this USA where we actually manage to stand for the concepts laid out in our founding documents. Right now, it's a country of empty rhetoric that smokescreens all the reasons we consistently fail to uphold our alleged values. But I still believe there's some future where we might dig our collective heads out of the sand.

Whether we'll implode completely before we get there is the key question in our present situation.