Der Spiegel today has the story of a crime:
While traveling on a local commuter train in Munich in the southern state of Bavaria to see his girlfriend on Saturday, Dominik B. noticed two older teens harassing younger adolescents. The older boys were trying to steal money from the younger children, aged around 13 and 14. Alarmed, B. called the local police. He then convinced the younger kids to get off the train at an earlier stop, so they could escape the perpetrators. The group left the train but was followed by the 17- and 18-year-old boys, identified only as Markus and Sebastian. When B. tried to intervene again, he was attacked and beaten by the older boys. The police arrived on the scene only minutes later but it was already too late to save B.
The perpetrators punched and kicked their victim again and again and the victim suffered 22 serious injuries to his head and upper body within the space of several minutes and died shortly afterwards.
That's the crime. Now here's the interesting part...
Apparently the teenagers' fight on the Munich train was a fairly loud one but B. was the only person who reacted -- and that has outraged many... suggested that the time had come to take another good look at Paragraph 323c of the German penal code. The law states that passersby who ignore a situation such as B.'s, where they could have helped but did not, may be punished either by a fine or a period of imprisonment of up to one year.
Of course, a concealed handgun would have solved the problem nicely.
ReplyDeleteyeah, the young thugs could have used it to wreak more havoc on society.
ReplyDeleteYou Americans are funny. I am German and I do not even know a single person who owns a gun, or whether it is in any way legal to carry a gun as a civilian.
ReplyDeleteNo gun is required. But a call to the police may have helped.
ReplyDeleteCCL
People should not need a law to act as decent human beings... but if Kitty Genovese's murder taught us anything, it was that the likelihood of bystander interaction decreases with the number of bystanders.
ReplyDeleteGiven that this is a noted psychological phenomena, it only makes sense that a potent counterbalance be enacted (in the form of "Good Samaritan" laws) to ensure that law and order is preserved despite innate tendencies.
I am an American who was stationed in Germany in the mid 80's to early 90's. I knew lots of Germans who owned handguns. We would go to the gun range and target shoot.
ReplyDeleteThere were a lot of Germans who had Lugers from WWII. I don't know what the laws are now, but then if you were of good moral character (not convicted of any violent crime, not a nut case and no duis) paid the licensing fee, took the safety class and were over 18, you could own any handgun you wanted.
There might have been some rule about rifles because I remember only the older guys had them, but I wonder if that wasn't a price thing rather than a rule thing.
This was at a range outside Mainz, GE