Autobahn
Semi-automatic rifles and open carry pistols aren’t an issue in Germany. There are strict gun laws that keep personal weapons mostly confined to hunting and target sports (Evening Standard). No one walks into schools, churches, or grocery stores armed. Germany has one of the lowest gun death rates in the world.
Germans don’t consider carrying a gun a Constitutional or even a “God Given” right. They look at the American carnage of mass shootings, replayed almost daily; as some strange “Yank” aberration.
But Germans do have their own odd predilections. Their national argument isn’t about guns – it’s about speed. The Autobahn is the German version of the US Interstate highway system. Built by the Nazi regime before World War II, the Autobahn system was carefully designed for high speed driving. The wide roads traverse the nation without interruption, the curves carefully banked for maximum control.
Unlimited Speed
Outside of the city centers, there is no speed limit on the Autobahn. The Porsches, Mercedes, Audis and BMW’s can go as fast as they can – many upwards of 250 kilometers per hour (around 160 mph). Cars with less power huddle in the slower lanes, straining to reach 120 kph (the 75 mph most Americans are used to). To grow bold and drive 200 kph (120 mph), drivers venture into the fast lane – briefly. But flashing headlights from a half mile behind converge almost as quickly as a driver can pass – all at 65 kph (40 mph) closing speeds.
To say slower cars get blown aside understates the feeling. It’s like pulling onto the Indy track in the middle of the 500. There’s even a listing of the top ten speeds clocked on the Autobahn (HowStuffWorks), the fastest at 432 kph (268 mph). The Autobahn is considered safer than American Interstate highways. But when there are fatalities, more than half are from “inappropriate speed”.
Like the American system, the Autobahn also includes commercial trucking. They do have a speed limit; 80 kph (50 mph), increasing the contrast in closing speeds and the need for “moderate” traffic to move into the high speed lanes. And there are environmental concerns as well, as the high powered cars produce more pollution at extreme speeds.
Unlimited Influence
Americans look at that, and often say, “That’s crazy, they should just slow down!!” But many Germans see the Autobahn’s unlimited speed as a “right”. That’s backed by the power of the car manufacturers, who make high speed a big selling point for their top models. What’s the good of owning a new Porsche 218, or the more traditional 911, if you can’t “max it out”. Like gun manufacturers in the United States, Porsche (Audi), Mercedes and BMW all maintain pressure on the legislature protecting the Autobahn’s unlimited speed. And Germans do have a point in their favor. German traffic fatality rates are 3.7 per 100,000 people, the US has 12.4/100,000 (and don’t drive in Liberia with 35.9/100,000 – World Population Review).
There is a movement in Germany today to restrict speed on the Autobahn, mostly for environmental reasons (NYT). But it’s not “happening”. The Germans like their speed, and they’re going to keep it.
I bet if almost 10,000 died on the Autobahn since January the Germans would have a different view. That’s the number of Americans killed by guns, including 131 in mass shootings. And it’s not even Easter (Gun Violence Archive). Americans own 1.2 guns per person, double any other nation in the world (Germany has 0.2 guns per person – World Population Review).
But my analogy might be better, if Germans were driving their Porsches into elementary schools and killing nine year-olds. That’s an American thing, I guess.
I thought about how many times I’ve written about mass shootings in the past years. Here’s a list – at least the ones I can easily identify
Mass Shootings
| Guns and Sadness | 10/3/17 |
| A Teacher with a Gun | 2/23/18 |
| Don’t Change the Subject | 3/25/18 |
| Again | 4/15/18 |
| Staying Small | 5/3/19 |
| Saving Lives Is Not Politics | 8/4/19 |
| The Pain Becomes too Great | 8/5/19 |
| Who’s Your Daddy | 8/21/19 |
| A Good Guy With a Gun | 9/1/19 |
| Rights and Guns | 5/17/20 |
| Pittsburgh | 6/17/20 |
| Our Choice | 12/1/21 |
| Toxic Mix | 5/16/22 |
| Apple Pie | 5/25/22 |
| Prairie Dogs | 6/9/22 |
| The Will to Do It | 7/6/22 |
| Hanging Together | 8/12/22 |
| Swatted | 9/23/22 |
| They Aren’t Pro-Life | 9/23/22 |
| Motive, Means, Opportunity | 1/25/23 |
| Accepted Losses | 2/14/23 |
| German Rights | 3/28/23 |
There was a story about this on the BBC. They quoted a German man who said “in France they love their wine, in the U.S. they love their guns, in Germany we love our fast cars.”