*Frans said:
“Saltherring, i sympathise with you, and it’s easy to say for me not to have a gun in Belgium, such a densely populated country that the police is never more than 10 minutes away…
People rarely have a gun here and it is almost impossible to get a licence to carry one.
Shoot-outs between criminals and victims are consequently also very rare, thus saving lives on both sides. I do not think that we have more criminals because we have less guns though.Criminality is a social disorder and will arise in all societies , even in the most tranquil ones but more in the disrupted ones.”
-About the curious fact that unlike in the US, in France and Belgium the criminals only rarely use firearms when they attack law-abiding citizens,it’s simply because they prefer to use firearms “only for business”. They typically use shotguns and Kalashnikovs assault rifles (AK) so as to attack big, valuable targets for which they need enough firepower to do so. For instance, a couple of years ago, a little supermarket deep in the country (near Belgium, actually) had been assaulted by four men armed with pump-action shotguns and bulletproof vests (aka body armor). From what I’ve learned, having been “close” from that kind of people at a certain period of my life, they also use firearms when they attack each others (gang wars), but never when they target the law abiding citizen. When they do so, they prefer to use knives, scissors, brass knuckles, box cutters… anything that « does the job » but isn’t bigger enough to draw attention. Knowing how it is easy in France in Belgium to find who’s the shooter when a gun has been used during a criminal act (thanks to scientific methods used by police forces, for instance), they just prefer to keep using cheap weapons they can throw away after use for “that part of the work”. Price of a boxcutter: 2 Euros (same in USD), available in every supermarket; price of a shotgun in what is called with fancy “black market”, if memory serves: 800 Euros… throwing away 2 Euros is easier than 800 
About gun control, on the contrary of what people think, it’s a waste of money that can’t solve the “problem” -”problem” invented by people who visibly have an interest in disarming loyal, law-abiding citizens. Keep in mind that you can, provided you have the little amount of knowledge and « know-how » necessary, to make ammunition thanks to a little box of that http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allumette and some pieces of wood… and that’s for people who are alone, those who don’t know anyone with the machinery and tools that could help them to make a real firearm. You can for instance look at the situation in London, England: the number of homemade weapons discovered by the local police forces, weapons made in garages or clandestine workshop, has risen by 300 % since they banned firearms in UK. Cellphones, flashlights… English criminals convert everything they find in cheap homemade firearms that can look like a pen but fire real ammunition.
All you need is a buddy of yours who works as a mechanic, some tools, some steel, and here it goes; several hours of work later you’ll end up by having your own homemade weapon, firing in semi-auto or full-auto (burst), according to your will.
*Diggs said: “Holding a discussion with a European about handguns is like holding a discussion about sex with a nun.
They may have an opinion, but it is grounded in faith, not facts.”
-Please avoid to live by clichés… the stereotype you’re talking about is the norm in Europe, but that norm is not followed by every European… 
