Newtown Massacre: America's pain, Austria's gain

When I first heard that 20 children had been murdered by a madman in Newtown, Connecticut I knew instinctively that a Glock semiautomatic pistol would be found at the school.  Glocks are the weapon of choice for lunatics intent on mass killings. So while Austria mourns the sensless slaughter of innocent life along with the rest of the world, they are shedding crocodile tears.

Reinhard Göweil writes about Austria's Doppelmoral in today's Wiener Zeitung: 

Österreich profitiert von diesem Wahn der Amerikaner - und das nicht zu wenig. Zu den beliebtesten Waffen der USA zählen Pistolen der Marke Glock. Der heimische Unternehmer beschäftigt in seinen österreichischen Werken 600 Mitarbeiter. 42 Millionen investiert der Industrielle im Werk Ferlach, das Land Kärnten fördert dies mit 1,7 Millionen Euro. 40 Beschäftigte bringt das, zusätzlich zu 330 bestehenden Arbeitsplätzen. Nicht nur Glock, auch andere Waffenproduzenten sichern in Österreich Arbeitsplätze. Das Scharfschützen-Gewehr von Mannlicher erfreut sich hoher Reputation in der Branche. Die vielfältige Munition von Hirtenberger gilt ebenso als technologisch "ausgereift". Wenn Österreich also - solidarisch mit Newtown - den Übeltätern in den USA die Pest wünscht, so sollte doch klar sein, dass Österreich eines der Länder ist, die zu deren Bewaffnung beitragen - und das nicht zu knapp.

(Austria profits from this American craze - and not just a little. Glock pistols are among the most popular weapons in the US. The Austrian company employs 600 workers in its factories here at home. It is investing 42 million in the Ferlach plant, which is receiving subsidies from the state of Carinthia to the tune of 1.7 million euros. This will create 40 new jobs, in addition to the current 330. And not just Glock but also other weapons manufacturers create jobs in Austria. Rifles by Mannlicher have an excellent reputation in the sector. And the many types of munition produced by Hirtenberger are also considered technologically 'state of the art'. So if Austria wishes to show solidarity with Newtown and wishes the worst for evildoers in the US, it should be clear that it itself  is one of the countries that helps to arm them - and again, not just a little.)

Comments

[koogleschreiber]

A staircase must be sweeped from the top, but this staircase is so long you don't see its end from the bottom. Social security and welfare are not the expression of romantic moods or utopian dreams of parliaments but strong tools to ensure social peace in the society. Deny them and you will pay a price in form of higher crime rates. The U.S. imprisons 10x more people per capita with longer terms than other nations, they have the death penalty - the only visible effect is increased brutality by those trying to get away with crime, because they don't have to lose much. 30,000 killed by guns every year in the U.S.A. - it is unlikely that more gun control would change anything. Make sure that psychos don't get a gun and run amok only would reduce that number to 29,970.

In the U.S., the root of all evil is a sort of brutal social darwinism. You might lose everything, your job, your house, but at the very least you still have your gun.

The arms producers only behave as expected, they can't be blamed. You encourage them to flood the nation with deadly weapons, you create the circumstances that lead to more crime, you make sure that every idiot can have a gun.

Austrians are not responsible for the stupidity of other nations (and they have record).

[David]

@koogleschreiber

I agree that the social safety net in the US in inadequate, but that does not explain these killing rampages. Most of the mass murders are carried out by white, middle class - in the case of Adam Lanza, upper-middle class - young men.

There is some deeper social pathology at play here.

[koogleschreiber]

There will be explanations for every single killing, but on the large scale of time and quantity each has to be regarded as an expression of the normal variance of probability. Millions have weapons, 30,000 killed every year, sometimes some dozens killed in one event. It would be wrong to pick up only the 'rampage killings' and make plans how to avoid them. Instead, you would have to change the rules for the whole 'game' to escape the variance. And even if all weapons had been banned, some psychos would find ways to kill a lot of people, with illegal guns, cars or something else. The question is not how to prevent rampage killings of some 20 or 30 victims, but how to prevent the 'normal' killings of 30,000 people per year. If you continue to accept these victims as the unavoidable price of the 2nd amendment, you also must accept the variance of the individual numbers.

[Hattie]

Disgusting. Sell weapons to Americans and make huge profits while looking down on us.

[koogleschreiber]

Hattie, I suppose the U.S. sells more weapons to the world than the world to the U.S. How many people are killed by American weapons worldwide and how do Americans look at other countries? Plus, Americans buy their weapons from American retailers. International trade of weapons would be bad enough, but that is topped by the U.S.A. for also being an open and stable market for weapons of almost any kind for everyone.

The U.S. are wealthy and heavily armed. Huray, hurray, America! The world, including Glock, pays respect and looks up to America.