Every gun in the possession of a good guy also has a very small probability to fall into the hands of a good kid that can't handle guns. Toddlers even. Small probabilities add up.
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Every gun in circulation has a small probability to turn a good guy meets good guy situation into a potentially bad guy meets potentially bad guy situation. A small fraction of good guy vs good guy encounters end up with one good guy dead, and one bad guy walking away. Too many.
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Most cops are good guys. A tiny fraction is not. Most citizens are good, law-abiding citizens. Most gun owners are law-abiding citizens. The assessment whether the other side is a good guy or a bad guy with a gun takes fractions of a second, using very unreliable visual cues.
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When I was living in the US, I had local drivers licenses, but in every traffic stop situation I would show my German drivers license first, to signal two things: 1. I learned how to drive, 2. I'm unarmed. The reaction to that was always palpable.
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Replying to @oliverbeige @ecoinomia
Did you verbally communicate the correlation of German=Non Gun or was it always an implied context?
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Replying to @FluidFluxation
Implied. This was typically before I had said a word. Cop, hand on holster: "Can I see your drivers license, sir?" Me: *hands over German drivers licence* Cop *takes hand off holster, stands at ease*: "Thank you sir, do you also have a local drivers license?"
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Replying to @oliverbeige @ecoinomia
Honestly fascinated that prompts such a response. US native myself, but I would have assumed supplying a foreign ID and not local initially would at first glance have raised suspicion, not relaxed it.
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Replying to @FluidFluxation
I assume this very much depends on where the foreign ID is from.
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Replying to @oliverbeige @ecoinomia
My reasoning was more that your operating a vehicle should require some form of local licence or an IDP, and identifying yourself with a foreign id doesnt prove you can drive. Ie: bartender shouldn't question age based on nation, but a German ID alone doesnt mean you can drive.
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I was not aware of that.
TIL. 
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Replying to @FluidFluxation
Stereotyping is a very powerful tool. It sets priors in an engagement where you know very little about the other. Germans build cars, drive on the autobahn, have very strict drivers license tests, and are more likely tourists than residents.
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Replying to @oliverbeige @FluidFluxation
So me handing over my German drivers license was a way to set priors based on stereotypes (which might be true or not in my case) to defuse a potentially tense situation. That's a privilege not everybody has.
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