A great place to live and shoot(Norway)

montrealgazette.com ^ | Michel Trahan Verdun

[marktwain]

Re: "Norway is best place to live" (Gazette, Nov. 5).

There must be an error in the reporting, Norway can't possibly be the best place in the world to live. Not only does Norway have the highest firearm-ownership per capita in western Europe, Norwegians are allowed (and encouraged) to buy silencers for their firearms and they are allowed to own and use high-capacity magazines.

It is kind of odd, because in Canada, our politicians keep on telling us that guns are the root of all evil.

Oh, wait. Just got a flash. Maybe Norway is such a great place to live because its politicians are more interested in running the nation than in running fearmongering campaigns.

Long live the Vikings!

Michel Trahan Verdun

[marktwain]

The $200 tax on silencers in the U.S. makes absolutely no sense. It has been a public health disaster. Millions have experienced hearing loss because of it.

[goldstategop]

All those guns and we haven’t heard the Vikings going berserk. (sarcasm)

[wally_bert]

I always liked Bergen and Tromso. Maybe it is the scenery that keeps them calm.

[Malsua]

While Norway is beautiful and the place is great to visit, anyone who has been there can attest to the high costs for everything and the nanny state everywhere. The upper speed limit on the Motorway is 90kph(~55mph)(80kph elsewhere). Speed traps everywhere and tolls every 10km.

A Big Mac meal in Norway will run you 70 or so Kronor, which is like $12. One Beer? $14. Everyone in Norway smuggles booze. I don’t even drink and I see it as just another nanny state looking to control it’s people.

[Huebolt]

Another wonderful country that is wonderful because it has national identity which it maintains, intact.

We in the US are just a up and coming third world bananna republic where no one will even speak English anymore.

It may be time to brush up on Russian...They'll ALWAYS be Russian. Будущее?

[Old Teufel Hunden]

Norway is a socialist nanny state. What good is it to live in a country that allows firearms freedoms, but wants to control you every other way? No thanks... BTW, I had always heard that Finland had the most guns per citizen in Europe.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

Also Switzerland has a very high per capita gun ownership.

[wally_bert]

There will always be (someone trying to inflict) multiculturalism since every other country (someone’s delusions) is better than us so we should be like every other country.

[Jed Eckert]

A great place to live and shoot(Norway)

Not so fast. While it's true you can own silencers without restrictions, there are plenty of restrictions on handguns. There is also an outright ban on full auto weapons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Norway

[MSF BU]

If you count the military rifles, every able bodied male in Switzerland has a rifle at home. In addition, many or most of the older men who’ve served have the option to keep their rifles and many/most do. I find it tough to believe that Norway’s percentage of gun owners is any higher than Switzerland or Finland.

[Rodamala]

Back in 1990 while driving through the Swiss Alps, it was comforting to have 3 Swiss Army guys come in to eat at the restaurant we stopped at. They stacked their rifles up right next to their booth table which was adjacent to our table.

It should be that way in this country.

[driftless2]

I knew an ex-worker at my place of employment who one time stated Norway was the best country in the world because the government did so much for its people, and he’d like to retire there. I asked him if he was going to retire there. He said no. I said why not. He said because it’s too damn expensive to live there. Then I asked him why he thought it was so great if it was too expensive for him to live there. He became exasperated with me and stalked off.

[NY.SS-Bar9]

it was comforting to have 3 Swiss Army guys come in to eat at the restaurant we stopped at.

Did they look like this?

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"I find it tough to believe that Norway’s percentage of gun owners is any higher than Switzerland or Finland."

And as for the character of the people, all we have to do is look back to WWII. Hitler never considered invading Switzerland. He knew it would be too hard because everyone owned a gun. In Finland, they were deserted by Europe just like the Pols, only they fought the Soviet Union tooth and nail and inflicted heavy causalties until they surrendered. Then when Germany declared war on Russia, they immediately allied themselves with Germany and went back to war with Russia, getting guns and supplies from Germany. Not because they loved Nazis, but because they loved freedom and wanted to be out from under the yoke of the commies.

Now we look at Norway, where we get the word Quisling from. He was the puppet leader the Nazi's installed after they invaded Norway. Who folded like a cheap suit. The only resistance and bitter fighting in Norway took place between the British troops and the Germans.

The Norwegians may have guns, but they have shown that they don't know what to do with them. So what good are the guns they own?

[TXnMA]

"Millions have experienced hearing loss because of it."

Unfortunately, I am included in that statistic...

And, for many, it is not the money that is a hindrance -- it is the risk inherent in deliberately putting oneself on the JBATFE's bureaucratic "list"...

[Rodamala]

Did they look like this?

Um, no... but then again they didn't look like this guy either: