my son will never shoot a gun, not even a water pistol. from father to son, from son to grand son and so on... I think owning guns is just dangerous and doesn't provide a real, practical benefit for anyone.
I won't ever own a gun, but: I guess Switzerland is the one European country that comes closest to the US with regard to gun culture...
The swiss government gives SIG assault rifles to 16 year old kids for free. Yes, free. The kids do not technically possess them until they will have finished their (mandatory) military service, but after that it's definitely theirs. If they don't do it, they'll still get to keep it.
Next weekend, the swiss people is going to hold a federal vote on a much more restrictive gun ownership law, i'm not sure i'll support it or not. I think people should be allowed to have guns, as long as they're not convicted criminals. private gun ownership is one of the pillars of democracy.
What I certainly do not agree with, however, is the fact that my taxfrank pays for some adolescent kids' toys. Toys that cost the equivalent of 2200 us dollars each....
/EDIT: added link
Gun politics in Switzerland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia