Well for one, Europe has a history of gassing disarmed people and those on registries, for two locking your gun up to pick someone up from the airport just presents an unnecessary opportunity for it to be stolen.
Why is it a good thing to put someone into a tiny cage for victimless possession crimes?
Why must I convince you why whatever I do is good to preserve my rights? Fuck all that.
Europe is a pretty big place with a lot of disparate governments. Abstracting it to merely "Europe" is ignoring how the world operates. Many European governments have been actively expanding and enshrining rights of individuals.
Secondly, none of your points are pertinent to the day-to-day of anyone in academic research/science. Perhaps only to the irrationally paranoid.
Look, I am from Spain, currently living in Japan, two very safe countries with some of the lowest rates of crimes in the world. I have met plenty of Americans living in both places, and do you know what they told me? 1) They love having a functional healthcare system that won't bankrupt them, and 2) they also love being able to walk around, specially at night, without the fear of being shot by a random asshole.
So it turns out that with safety comes real freedom, the freedom to go on with your life without fear. Their words, not mine.
So please, tell me again why having guns is a good idea.
I'm absolutely open to the idea that some people find more freedom with less liberties and more safety.
There are plenty of nice things about Japan. Most Americans who are capable of moving to Japan do not, for one reason or another. The ones capable of doing so generally self select because it jives with their desired way of life. I know of Japanese who moved here and are now gun toting Americans.
Perhaps the spice of life is if you value certain liberties more than life itself, maybe America is an option for you. I'm not totally convinced this is even the case with guns in the long run -- it does seem disarmament buys some short term safety for some people at the expense of long term vulnerability that their government, or external or internal forces, can exploit their disarmed state. This has happened in the US to the Indians, to the Jews in Europe, and to the Filipinos by the Japanese.
I'm saying there is a place with some of the most liberal non commercial speech and strongest gun rights in the world, certain people value this, and if they are like me they're not living their life in fear that these liberties might come with certain additional risks.
Why is it a good thing to put someone into a tiny cage for victimless possession crimes?
Why must I convince you why whatever I do is good to preserve my rights? Fuck all that.