Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]


I had in mind more things like starocie... flea markets, that kind of thing. I'm sure people who sell old weapons might have an idea where newer ones could be obtained....


Culture (maybe some genetics, but that's crime think now so I won't mention it....).

The average mass shooter in the US is not a white crazy loner (though we've got those a plenty) but more likely a black or latino at a party who gets mad about something and comes back packing and shooting in all directions. They often get away because the victims refuse to cooperate with police. Look up "mass party shooting" on google.

I don't know how likely that situation is in Poland (not so much I think) but looking at gun violence is not helped by hysterical overreactions and thinking of guns as magic charms that turn normal people into mad killers....


Actually the places with easier access tend to have lower levels of gun violence. There's been over 300 gun murders in "gun free" Chicago, none by NRA members.

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]


Becuase Poland is generally not that violent a place. That's why mafia wars in the 1990s were nothing compared to Russia (a much more violent place).

Guns aren't magic, they don't cause crime and violence by themselves. It's culture more than the mere presence of guns that causes gun crime.

Note that gun crime did not decrease after the total gun ban in the UK.

Note that I'm not in favor of everybody walking around with guns either, but people who panic at the very idea of some citizens legally owning guns are just as gun crazy as those who keep machine guns at home.... just in a different direction.

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]


I'm pretty sure criminals don't have great problems in acquiring guns now.

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]


It's probably a little harder now, but at the Russian markets of the early 1990s you supposedly could buy weapons (and all sorts of other things not officially displayed). Same thing was supposedly true for the old Stadion dziesięciolecia in Warsaw (it used to be my favorite place in Warsaw, still sooo sad it's gone).

If I wanted to buy a gun (I don't but if I did) I would start asking around (discreetly) at an open air market or two, especially if there were non-Polish sellers.

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]


Nah, you don't understand American gun love (they way I don't understand soccer). I don't get it entirely either but I don't reflexively look down on it either by warbling about a "climate of fear". Disclosure there were lots of guns around when I was a kid and I was taught basic gun safety and marksmanship but I was never especially into guns after outgrowing bb guns (which could be a lot of fun).


My impression is rather that if Polish people want guns they won't care whether or not it's "legal". Polish people have a long and fine tradition of ignoring laws they find inconvenient. The traditional attitude is roughtly "rules are for those other people and they should follow them.... but my case is special"

I remember a few years ago on Ranczo (yeah, a dumb show, but it can be culturally revealing at times) some mafioso types were threatening the village and the villagers decided to fight back.... and as it turned out lots of people had guns stored away somewhere. I wouldn't be that surprised if more people than is supposed in the countryside have guns that they don't talk about or wave around.

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]


No. They believe in self-defense because settling most of the continent only happened in the 19th century and people had to be able to take care of themselves without much law enforcement/nanny state to take care of them. This meant guns for self defense and hunting.

US gun culture is not the product of fear but of history. Given most of that is not relevant in Europe which has been settled with state infrastructure for much longer.


Spoken like a city slicker who's never gone to the dump to shoot rats....

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]


Suicides are routinely included in gun homocide rates in the US.


Beause drug dealers and gang members are self-selected and are mostly a danger to each other (and honestly I don't care if crooks kill each other).

I only care about gang gun violence when innocent bystanders get shot which is distressingly often (but the racial realities behind that mean that it doesn't get discussed in the media).

The facts are that gun violence is statistically mostly commited by the NAM (non-Asian* minority) population. But no one can publicly say they want to publicly disarm urban blacks and latinos so they turn on white gun owners (who have comparitively low levels of gun violence) instead.

*in the US "Asian" means East Asia, not Southern Asia as in the UK

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]


When you control for drug and/or gang violence and suicide (look up the Smith and Wesson retirement plan), US gun crime rates are actually pretty modest.

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]


The right of self defense? I realize British people don't believe in self-defense but Americans (and I think Poles) do.

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]


Technically the US constitution doesn't give anyone rights, it prohibits the government from infringing people's natural rights which include self-defense.

Law / Old Polish money banknotes - what's their value today? [415]

What is going on here?

Is someone selling a bunch of old worthless Polish currency to gullible people in Asia by telling them it's worth something?

Law / Refused Poland's citizenship from Polish president, what to do now? [47]


Where's the fire? if you have the karta stałego pobytu you don't need citizenship. Just wait a few years and apply normally.

News / Cardinal Józef Glemp has died aged 83. Cardinal Macharski too. [10]

Mods, why don't you just call this the "dead priest thread"? That way anytime a priest dies readers will know where to go!

Good job! (sarcasm)

Language / Dziadzia / Babcia - help me with spelling/pronunciation [81]


It's apparently Polish-American. I wonder if it was a regional thing in Poland that died out here and survived and spread in the US or if it arose there.

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1050]


yikes! I started with urząd and forgot to change the adjective when I realized służba was the better word.....

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1050]


I'm not a native speaker but I'll try so the native can correct it and make fun of my pseudo tough guy talk

"Jazda! Już! Bo dzwonię do kumpla ze służby migracyjnego.... nie widziałeś mnie, kumasz?"

change widziałeś to widziałaś if the person is speaking to a woman.

Life / West-East life in Poland? [45]


The one time I was there (many years ago) I was surprised to see what a dump it was. One of the most poorly maintained cities I'd ever seen in Poland. Is it any better. One friend's explanation was that they didn't want to make it look too attractive to the Germans across the border....


I pretty much agree with this. Draw a line from Warsaw to Gdańsk, Poznań, Wrocław, Cracow and back to Warsaw. Most of what's inside that area is pretty okay and most of what's not inside it ...... is a lot worse off.

Law / I have D Type Cel Wydania 10 visa? What EU countries can I visit with it? [16]

Why is Poland giving visas to people too stupid to understand them and don't even know enough to google the answers?

I realize there are some diploma mills making shady promises about Schengen visas but the time to check these things out is before you get the visa.

News / Religious extremists advocate murdering gay Polish politician [42]


I don't know about Polish law, but calling for violence against an identifiable person (like the current mayor of Słupsk) is not protected speech and is actionable should the current mayor Słupsk choose to pursue that avenue.

News / Russian criticism of Poland - Soviet war memorial removal [332]


I thought this was settled in the early 90s. After decades of everyone complaining about it as soon as proposals were made to demolish it the majority of Varsovians decided that it had grown on them and most emphatically did not want to have it torn down. Before they started building other tall buildings it was also a handy way to keep from getting too lost while visting Warsaw.

I think the fate of the Palace of Culture is the business of Varsovians since it's in their city. I would be against tearing it down without a referendum of citizens of Warsaw (and private collections should be taken rather than taxing everybody - tearing it down would be a very expensive proposition and those who want to do it should bear the sole financial burden of accomplishing it).

And trying to pretend the Soviet period didn't exist is very harmful and counter-productive. A country can only come to terms with the past if it acknowledges it. Trying to pretend it never happened (or wanting to go back in time and redo the past) causes more problems than it solves.

Language / The "end piece" of a loaf of bread in Polish [80]

I've heard both piętka and dupka. If I were around friends I'd probably say dupka and I'd say piętka in more polite company. I don't know if any native speakers would do that.

Law / Old Polish money banknotes - what's their value today? [415]

It's worth 10 2016 zloties, aka about 3 US dollars. Enjoy it for what it's worth (even if you could exchange it which I don't think you can).

Study / Review of the Poznan University of Economics? [18]


The mission and vision of almost any English language programme in a non-English speaking country is to attract students who think they can study in English, extract some money from them and discard them.

The old system (first year intensively learning Polish and then in regular classes with Polish students) worked much, much better in actually teaching students something.

Feedback / Member warning system to prevent abuse / spam / off-topic posts [145]


But didn't someone point out that the random and often just plain wrong thread merging does the same thing?


One brain gooooood, no brain better!

Feedback / Member warning system to prevent abuse / spam / off-topic posts [145]


Feisty! I like it!

But which particular post was off topic in what way? I've had posts that were completely on topic removed to random because......?

And to be frank, why the jihad against thread drift anyway?

Feedback / Member warning system to prevent abuse / spam / off-topic posts [145]

The most annoying thing is there's no link to the specific post that brought about a warning. So the person getting warned has no idea what brought the warning on.

I have strong opinions and I express them strongly (and I expect others to do the same) and I've gotten two warnings out of the blue and I have no idea what they were for except maybe the mods (whom I despise openly) were feeling especially stupid that day.

0= off topic posts. Have you ever given a thought that your posts on the main forums had nothing to do with the thread. Perhaps you were feeling especially stupid on those days?

Law / Uber in Poland - illegal [28]


I can understand why you find the article uncomfortable but the entire business model of Uber is turn de facto employees into "independent contractors" so that all the financial risk is outsourced to them.

Established company taxis are cheap enough in Poland that I would have to be one miserably cheap SOB to want save a couple of zloties.

The problem of mafia taxis can easily be solved by having taxi ordering stands in the airport.

Law / Uber in Poland - illegal [28]


Uber is a racket

houstonchronicle.com/business/outside-the-boardroom/article/Uber-is-in-the-sub-prime-auto-business-7955561.php?t=4ca09c1fff&cmpid=twitter-premium

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


They prefer PiS's lies.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]


surely Masłowksa (feminine form)


There's no 'v' in Polish so probably not the original name. It might be abbreviated from Karwowski (which is not super common but not super rare either).