I thought this an interesting statistic: European elites support gun control... almost unanimously. Americans don't -- and are moving in the other direction. Support for a handgun ban has fallen from 60 percent in 1960 and 43 percent in the early 1990s to 29 percent in May 2009 (Gallup)… http://powerlineblog.com/
Seems kinda unlikely
I'd love to believe it's true, but have my doubts.
Europe has NEVER had a concept of individual autonomy because, with the exception of Switzerland, its peoples have been ruled by royalty. Napoleon, then the revolutions of 1848, greatly reduced royal power, but the concept of inherent, individual rights does not have the substance there it has here. The farther East from Germany one goes, the less the concept is understood and acknowledged.
Who is sovereign? As amici says in Europe the state is sovereign, that is why in GB the parliament which is also the executive de facto, can totally change the laws whenever there is a majority to do so.
The Europeans expect government to be powerful enough do what the elites want at the moment.
The impediment to congress and the executive doing the same in the US is that we have reserved sovereignty to the people. The constitution is our agreement with congress and the executive limiting the states scope.
POTUS says this is nonsense, what is needed is a constitution with positive rights and a state empowered to undertake to give the people these rights. (Shades of FDR and the four freedoms)
Hand gun ban support stronger in 1960 than now?
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