Breaking : possible terror attack in Berlin

[MagicMary1]

twitter.com/ap/status/810931083944534016

This is so sad.

Yes Santaslittlemonkey the Birmingham Christmas market needs looking at it is not safe at present. The barriers are actually stopping people from moving. My children and I were crushed and couldn't move for 10 minutes. If an incident occured it would
cause panic and presumably many more casualities.

wookie

No, in the U.K. of Europe in general.

Because guns are a great equaliser and a way for a civilian to incapacitate an attacker.

in the U.K. or* Europe

Little, not good... we have been to the birmingham market before, not this year however. I can imagine how what you have described could occur though if badly managed, not a nice experience for you at all and it must be a very delicate balance for the police and organisers to get right.

Crikey 1horatio not sure, that might need a while other thread!

Whole! Jeez... bloody phone!

Also true.

But I'm so not starting that thread. But it is imo a discussion to be had.

it's so sad that my immediate thought was 'oh, not again'. Those poor people.

It's terrifying. I'm still going to say a big fat NO to civilians being able to carry guns in the uk. That would make me feel much more unsafe.

I get a bit sweaty thinking toddler dd might be able to get in to the locked cupboard with the bleach, never mind a bloody gun!

I am, however, very open to the idea that our police force could all be armed.

geek

I'm Swiss.

And this has been the first shooting in a long time and it's one of the safest countries.

So, I'm not sure how I'm being silly?

fidget

I have to be honest, a non-armed police force sometimes still makes me a bit

Just out of interest, your opinion on gun control?

Well, I support gun control. I'm in Australia, and it's one of the countries often given as an example of where gun control has worked. And, as a cop, I can say that, for the most part, it's true.

But I don't think this sort of thing would ever work in the US. For a start, Australia (and the UK) does not have a Bill of Rights, and therefore there's no bizarre constitutional attachment to guns. But the gun culture is also vastly different here and always has been.

Adding guns into the mix in a terrorist attack is a recipe for disaster. It's the kind of thing Americans suggest when a shooting happens, "Well, if more people just had guns on them, this wouldn't have happened!". Yeah, because having lots of people shooting indiscriminately in a dark club or cinema is going to lessen the victim count.

Awful news. These terrorists have no regard for life. Horrible people.

Well... tbh, in America most of these horrible attacks happen in gun free zones. In a country with this many guns a gun free zone is just a recipe for disaster, unfortunately.

I'm not American and I don't feel like Inhave the knowledge to say more about their issues.

I was asking about Europe.

I'm just interested in hearing opinions. Because the U.K., as a pretty much gun free zone, isn't a particularly safe country. (I'm just comparing murder rates, btw). And how the issue of terrorism may relate to more guns or civilians (not a free for all. More like, strictly regulated with tests about mental health etc)

That's all, I guess.

I mean, let's take an older attack. If somebody had a gun they could have shot Breivik and well, yeah. We all know how that ended.

I mean, let's take an older attack. If somebody had a gun they could have shot Breivik and well, yeah. We all know how that ended.

Or he could've shot them and carried on, adding yet another victim to the count?

There's no logic to what you're saying, sorry.

I don't know, I mean we've got to safer than America surely?

How many children have been killed again in the last three years? I heard it somewhere but can't remember.

Not just the all too often school shootings, the children that shout themselves, a friend it a sibling after getting hold of a parents gun.

It was a high figure.

No, police getting tooled up I'd consider acceptable.

George from down the road whose children are often running around with his empty tinnies, no thanks.

Assuming this is a terrorist attack, as reported, and it's Islamic terrorism, what do they have against Germany? Terrorism used to have a motive, some grevance they were fighting about, like the IRA, or ETA or the PLO. These days much of it just seems about hatered, what do they want?

I'm not for more guns, I'm fairly neutral on the subject. I mean, as somebody that kind of grew up seeing them I may not have the same reaction some of you have (for example when they see kids with guns) but I'm not a gun right advocate.

I was just interested in hearing mumsnetter's opinions on this.

fidget
Sure. But the U.K. Is decidedly less safe (homicide rate wise) than Switzerland despite Switzerland having a much higher rate of gun ownership. Which is why I was curious.

fakenamefornow I'm not sure how true this is or even if this was 'those' terrorists but my understanding is that it is western culture islamic terrorists (Isis) want to destroy.

Something about a holy war and we either all have to die or be converted to radical Islam?

That may be ignorant rubbish though to be fair, it's just what I've heard repeated.

I do wonder about the smaller towns and cities away from London, Birmingham, Manchester, etc. Towns and cities that maybe difficult to reach quickly for back-up armed response forces to attend quickly. The local police attending the scene initially with tasers will be powerless against a well organised terror attack.

Agree Celeste, I think these less obvious places are the most likely potential targets going forward.