Every so often, we’ll come across some op-ed that seeks to argue that Europe is so much more peaceful than us because they have such strict gun control laws on the books. Every country is a little different, but most make California or New York look downright pro-gun, so yeah, they have gun control.

Yet we also know that our non-gun homicide rate is greater than the total homicide rate of most places.

So that’s one strike against this claim that Europe is so much better off because of gun control.

The flip side is that it seems bad guys over there are getting guns just like over here.

POLICE have arrested 11 leaders of a NeoNazi group who allegedly called for their thousands of followers to arm themselves and overthrow the government.

During eight searches conducted in Malaga and Roquetas de Mar (Almeria), Guardia Civil  officers seized a significant cache of weapons, including 10 firearms, over 9,000 cartridges, explosive precursors, 34 bottles of sulfuric acid, and numerous prohibited weapons such as brass knuckles, knives and defense sprays. Additionally, propaganda materials promoting neo-Nazi ideology were discovered.

In the ongoing investigation 11 others are being investigated, with the operation spanning Almeria, Alicante, Bizkaia, Castellon, Jaen, La Rioja, Madrid, Malaga, Navarra, Pontevedra, Segovia, Seville, Teruel, Toledo, Valencia, and Zaragoza.

The people so far arrested are accused of various offenses including illicit association, insults to state institutions, assault, illegal possession of weapons and promotion of hatred, discrimination, and violence against different groups.

…

The arrested leaders are alleged to have given advice to their followers on how to get weapons, with some obtaining licences for rifles, shotguns and pistols, while others acquired blank-firing weapons that could be easily converted to lethal weapons.

OK, first, “insults to state institutions” sounds like a public duty, not a crime, but be that as it may, these guys were apparently very hostile to certain groups of people and reportedly intended to overthrow the government.

Granted, they’d need more than 11 people to do it, I’d imagine, but that was the goal.

And still these gun control laws weren’t going to be enough to stop bad guys from getting guns or converting replica firearms into working guns.

Funny how that works out, isn’t it?

An interesting point, though, is that these 11 people were arrested for allegedly seeking to overthrow the government and for illegally possessing weapons, but how many in Spain listened to these guys, have guns in place despite gun control laws, and weren’t arrested?

These guys had a problem with LGBT folks. I can’t help but wonder how those LGBT people are supposed to defend themselves considering the gun control laws in place in Spain.

Then again, Europe doesn’t care about people’s ability to defend themselves. Even if they acknowledge the right to do so, they see no reason anyone should have the means to do so, and that’s a big problem.

Unfortunately, it’s a problem we can do nothing about.

The upside is that it’s not our problem. I hate it for folks over there, but a lot of them wanted this kind of gun control, even though we’ve got another example of how it doesn’t work.