Iceland and Guns

As many of you know, I have a fascination with Iceland....not that I'd up and move there, but I could probably spend a week there easily.  This week, I noted a column from Iceland that discussed Icelanders and weapons.

The statistic was laid out.....in a country of 331,000 residents....there are approximately 90,000 guns within it.  All registered.  Well, that's what the authorities think.  One might take a wild guess that somewhere among 331,000....there's probably another thousand weapons which aren't registered.

The thing is....you have hardly any bad-boy weapon episodes to occur.

As the 'Grapevine' article went into detail....they had one single incident in the past twelve months.  Some guy in the southern neighborhood of Kopavogur had gone outside and fired off a couple of rounds into the air, after having maintenance done on the weapon.  Folks called the cops and reported gunfire (something you typically don't hear in area).  Cops came and found nothing.  Some moment of guilt came over the guy involved and he went down to report himself the next day.  Cops decided he was not clearly in control (maybe there was alcohol or drugs in his system at the time, or just a wild idea).  So they came and confiscated his weapons.  No one says it's permanent or temporary.....my humble guess is that they will hold them for a long while and he'll have to regain his license in some manner.

As the article comments.....between 2005 and 2012, there was not a single death by firearm in Iceland.

So you sit and review this fact and you ask some questions.

Are there gangs in Iceland?  No.

Is there a crime trend in Iceland?  No.

From a 2013 article by the BBC, I might note that some folks believe that the dividing line between the wealthy, middle-class, and lower-class.....is not that noticeable in Iceland.  To suggest severe poverty being noticed....would be a joke.  From the week I spent there last year....you see a lot of working-class people.

The richest guy on the island?  Bjorgolfur Thor, with a value of 1.6-billion dollars.  But you look at his life story.  He had this one single idea which he went and partnered up with his dad in his youth....a microbrewery operation.  Well....it became the Viking Corporation and the beer is one of the more desirable types brewed in Iceland.  He simply took a good beer formula, and some common business sense, and made himself into what he is today.  You look around Iceland and you see mostly the same story with people....self-made and a fair use of common sense.

Drug usage in Iceland?  Perhaps there is a trend there, with meth and cocaine being marketed there.

The gun license usage?  To own a weapon, you have to prove a few things....like your stability and your emotional side.  There's some study material, a class or two, and an exam.  The description of the requirements?  Simplicity.

There is some magic formula where weapons in the hands of the public works in Iceland.    Course, it might only be the water....you just don't know.