European and American Ideological Differences; Why?

Crossing over a bit with the 'Do gun rights have anything to do with democracy?' thread...

As You Know, one of the topics Americans and Europeans tend to have vastly different views on is firearms. I still only understand half of the American attitude - like I said in another thread, it's Blue-and-Orange Morality to me - but I think I have identified one very important aspect of it: many Americans seem to agree with the following statement.

'Firearms are a relevant factor in the balance of power in society.'

Now, if you said this to a person from Europe, they would give you a confused and surprised look, before classifying you as crazy, bloodthirsty and/or a political extremist. Very, very few people would agree with you.

In Europe, the last time when guns really mattered in domestic politics was in the Interbellum, when Red Shirts, Black Shirts and other Ragtag Bunches Of Misfits fought for control of Germany, Italy and Spain. (And of course World War Two itself, what with the armed resistance to a military dictatorship). After the war, a more stable, peaceful society emerged, and guns largely disappeared from the scene. They became something the army uses to shoot at poor people 10,000 kilometres away. When guns are used in a European country, either it's sportsmen enjoying themselves in the safe, controlled environment of a shooting range, or there's something seriously wrong - besides the sportsmen, the only people who use guns here are criminals, terrorists and the police.

Using guns to 'defend your home' is unheard of (to illustrate: in the Netherlands, we've had a few heated debates over whether you should be allowed to beat up burglars in your home - imagine what we'd think of shooting at them!), let alone keeping guns just in case the government turns evil and you need to rise up against it.

edited 7th May '12 1:20:15 PM by MidnightRambler

Or, you're in Switzerland. They're a bit more aligned with the US ideas. But, still not quite. It's a bit hard to describe. And, they can vary from community to community, let alone between Cantons.

edited 7th May '12 1:24:18 PM by Euodiachloris

Yeah, well, they're the 'very, very few people' I was talking about

In all seriousness: I sort of neglected Switzerland. Of course, when I say things about "Europe" as a whole, that doesn't mean those things apply to every place on the European continent. For example, I think most of my previous post doesn't hold in former Yugoslavia.

(It's OK... I won't tell them if you don't...)

Swizerland isn't in the E.U. anyway.

Their negotiations stalled in the late-00s. So, ergo, they're not de jure even in the EEA, but are technically, de facto as being part of EFTA.

Thread Hop:

It could be due to the difference in political systems.

At least, in the EU states, the majority of them are run by parliaments (or a presidential-parliament hybrid system), where consensualism (especially within the states with elements of proportional representation in elections) between many parties are the norm. Granted, most states have a major socialist/social-democratic party (e.g. SPD in Germany, Labour in Britain) and conservative party (e.g. CDU in Germany, Conservative in Britain) who poll the majority of the votes combined.

But even so, the parliamentary style allows for more 'flow' in European systems, than in the US. In effect, parliaments are, as bound by constitutions, and by extension, the executive (who are pooled from the largest party/coalition in parliament) supreme. There is no stopping the government parties from passing law that they wish.