Spanish Political Party Advocates For Less Gun Control

By Tom Knighton

AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

Throughout most of Europe, guns are reserved for the very few and even then, mostly for hunting. The idea of self-defense is strongly discouraged in a population that’s still used to monarchs and dictators. The idea of the individual having rights is still a relatively new concept when compared to the cultural history of European nations.

However, a Spanish party is openly calling for citizens to be permitted to carry firearms, explicitly for self-defense purposes.

A far-right party is making political waves in Spain by advocating looser gun control laws and recruiting retired military officers as candidates in a parliamentary election next month.Vox party leader Santiago Abascal said Spaniards should be allowed to keep firearms at home and to use them in “real life-threatening situations” without fear of legal consequences. Spain currently allows civilians to possess guns only for sporting purposes.

“Our laws treat criminals like victims and honest citizens like criminals,” Abascal told armas.es, a website specializing in weapons, in an interview Wednesday.

Abascal, 42, has bragged about carrying a handgun himself. The politician was born and raised in the northern Basque region, where his family was for years a target of separatist militant group ETA. He …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms