Europeans also fuel US arms addiction

Europeans scandalized by US gun legislation, like Christoph Prantner in Austrian daily Der Standard, should keep in mind that the perpetrator of the Aurora massacre allegedly used a semi-automatic Glock pistol made in Austria, argues Charles Lane in The Washington Post. In the wake of the aftermath of the July 20 mass shooting during a midnight screening of the latest Batman film which killed 12 people, the editorial writer notes that —

For all the tut-tutting across the pond, America’s gun culture exists in symbiosis with Europe’s own culture of precision manufacturing - of which the Glock is a notable expression.

As the UN conference on the Arms Trade Treaty draws to a close on July 27, Lane continues —

EU members shipped just under a million handguns to the US in 2010 [...] Europe’s small arm makers can still get rich, and create jobs, thanks to the Second Amendment Who knew? [...] Europe [is] practicing something different from what it preaches.

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Lane suggests EU leaders could restrict European gun exports, given the fact “we’re talking about a product that can kill people” —

A prohibitive tariff on weapons from Europe wouldn’t end U.S. gun violence, but it might reduce risks at the margin [...] Europe’s battered economy might suffer, but at least it wouldn’t be the first time companies over there gave up U.S. market share so as not to encourage America’s evil ways. Last December, the EU restricted sales to the U.S. of the drug also being used in death penalty lethal injections -which Europa abhors. As it happens, Holmes could face capital punishment [...] Thanks goodness his blood wouldn’t be on Europe’s hands.