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Picture of a #Dutch outfit during WWII... why am I not even surprised.
The Dutch couldnt be anymore Dutch if they tried!
@freemo The Dutch were absolutely not prepared for WWII. Shitty equipment, and not expecting to be invaded at all. We kinda expected a repeat of WWI.
@trinsec Thats what happens when as a nation you tend to be anti-gun, i finda would have expected the Dutch to have learned their lesson from WWII
@freemo Heh, way to go to compare a situation from 80 years ago with now. 😝
Besides, I do fully expect soldiers to be armed, jeez.
@trinsec The situations arent unrelated.. by not having armed civilians who knew how to use a gun when it came time for every civilian to fight there were neither the guns nor expiernce to to do it. This policy ultimately led to a complete inability to prevent nazi germany from taking over.
now, 80 years later that same formula is at play and should another hitler ever rise dutch will find themselves repeating history never having learned that lesson from WWII
This is Mur 
thats a naive view of guns. The vast majority of legitimate uses of guns doesnt result in any loss of human life. Most people most of the time, at least during peace time, use them either for sport, or to protect the animals on a farm, or a combination of both. The use of a gun to actually kill someone is such a small percentage of their use as to be almost insignificant in terms of percentages of when/how a gun is used.
As for not needing guns or needing wars, that is always the hope. Lets hope people who are armed only ever need it to shoot at targets and enjoy the sport.
However it is scary just how similar your wording is to the views after WWI when the people of europe felt they learned their lesson and through coalitions, rather than guns or armies, could solve their problems. A wonderful idea, and by all means peace should be the goal. But things often dont work out as planned, they didnt work out then, and chances are they wont work out again. And when the next world war does happen it will again be the people without the guns sent to the gas chambers.
@freemo Good news, you're allowed a weapon here for hunt or sport. Get your license and have fun!
https://www.politie.nl/themas/wapens.html#alinea-title-hoe-krijg-ik-een-wapenvergunning
I consider the rest to be a rather pessimistic view of the world and bordering on fearmongering. :P
You act like there arent 100 wars going on in the world at this very second, or countless cultures being murdered because they have no way of defending themselves.
Its not fear mongering to recognize what is not just true but actively happening... nor does it stop you from ensuring peace simply because people are prepared should someone someone choose not to be follow your dream of peace.
@freemo Those wars right now are not in my country, and I sincerely hope that's going to stay this way. 'Prepare for peace, build an army', civilians are not armies. You might think your militia is, because of your constitution, but we don't.
We send troops over the world as support to try to help resolve some of those wars. Our army is geared to try to stabilize regions and de-escalate situations.
Might bigger armies be needed, we still have conscription in our laws. It is merely put on hold, but it can be put back in use any time. The government decided having professionals was the way to go, so our army is full of trained people which can be used in any situation.
I will have to trust my government. I do trust my government. It probably helps that a chance of a type like that orange guy getting in office and deciding everything is extremely slim.
Armies are find whe your sending a few people off to help the USA fight iran or something.. But unless you intend to waste half your budget on armies like america does (which I do not recommend) that wont suite you when and if war does come.
Not even a single generation has passed yet since the last world war (but we are at the point where in about 10 more years we will be only one generation removed)... It seems like huberis to say it could never happen and thus no need to consider it when we havent even managed to go a single generation yet without one.
@trinsec
Saying we should strive for peace, and do our best to ensure war never happens, but be prepared in the off chance it does is fear mongering? ... ok ::shrug::
@mur2501