Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

Wow. Such emotional responses to such a simple question. I know a lot of you think that Americans are all a little trigger-happy, but let me give you some context on why I tend to carry:

1. I grew up in a very rough neighborhood in Los Angeles where my family and I were witnesses to the murder of a child. As a result we had constant death threats to try to keep us from testifying; the district attorney told my father to purchase a gun because he was not confident that the police could protect us. There were gang shootings at my school, etc. That has an effect on one's psyche.

2. I have worked both in corrections and as a police officer, and I have run into my "clients" off duty on numerous occasions, in situations that could have easily become a confrontation with someone I had fought with on duty previously in a segregation unit. Not being armed would have been irresponsible under those circumstances and endangered my family. I know these circumstances do not apply to my stay in Poland. I merely sought to be informed of the laws there, because I firmly believe in obeying, honoring and sustaining the law, something that is hard to do if you don't know what the law is.

I know that Europeans have a different outlook on weapons, war, and many other things than Americans. One of the reasons I will be living in Europe is so that I can respectfully learn about and appreciate other cultures on a real, day to day level (not just on the level of a tourist) and have a better understanding of the way they think. I accept that not everyone looks at the world the way I do. I want to understand how they do look at it. I think a lot of you should try to do the same.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

@ Z_Darius
You say that defending yourself from the government is a hilarious argument for the right to bear arms.

I cannot speak for Poland, but it is a real concern in the United States.
In 1838 The State of Missouri called out the militia to wipe out an entire religious group because they had dared to try to defend themselves from mobs burning their homes and murdering their families. The governor's order declared that they "must be exterminated or driven from the State." For more information go here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Executive_Order_44

That is just one example. If the government came to slaughter and drive out my family, I sure as heck wouldn't just lay down and die. This has happened before in our country. There is a lot of blood on the American flag, even if most of my fellow citizens are ignorant of it.

Quite frankly I am somewhat surprised that Poland doesn't encourage a well-armed citizenry, given its history of invasion and their geographical vulnerability, and the way that Russia has been reasserting itself, such as its invasion of Georgia in 2008 (this is not intended as a snide remark or insult here; The Poles are obviously free to do as they see fit in this regard, and certainly no foreigner has any right to criticize them for it. I am just surprised).

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

There are numerous examples of self defense shootings in the South of the US that are fully justified. I remember hearing just a few months ago of an old woman who was able to defend herself against multiple young male armed assailants in my local area because she had a gun. Firearms are an equalizer; they make it harder for the strong to prey on the weak. Even if you can't take on the government directly small arms can still be effective in a long-term insurgency. If you want a more recent example of the US federal authorities overstepping their authority, you should remember that during WWII the federal government put American citizens of Japanese descent into internment camps with no due process. Granted we didn't massacre them the way Nazi Germany and Stalin chose to do to their targets, but I believe they would have been fully justified in resisting such action with weapons if necessary. Don't forget too, things can change very fast. Germany went from economic ruin and military defeat to being at the gates of Moscow and defeating France in only twenty years.

Life / Anything like netflix in Poland? [27]

I love netflix instant viewing and I'd like to find a similar streaming service I can use in Poland. I understand how I could still access netflix from Poland but if there is a comparable European service I'd rather use that and get more exposure to non-American cinema. Are there any that work in Poland without a VPN?

Language / Use of swoj [23]

Merged: moj vs swoj

I'm using Rosetta stone to try to improve my vocabulary. I think I understand how moja and twój are used, but I see swój and swoja used in first, second and third person. What is the rationale behind this usage?

Example- Kocham swoją matkę. I thought swoja was his/her, not my.

Also what is the difference between swojego and jego/jej?

Language / Use of swoj [23]

Thanks a lot. I understand it now.
Polish has proved a lot more difficult than I had expected, which just makes me that much more determined to master it.

Language / Polish post office vocabulary [8]

Thanks for your help.

One more additional question:

I need to ship a small parcel to a local address in a way that can be tracked. Does the polish post office offer this service? If so, how do I ask for tracking?

Language / Polish case question (Mężczyzna jest zimno? or Dziewczyna jest zimno?) [71]

Wow- leave a thread alone for a few days and watch it grow to astronomical proportions!

Thanks for the discussion. I think this pretty well answered my question:


It turns out I didn't recognize it because dative is not one of the cases I have studied so far. Now I know. Thank you.