If the Netherlands is a libertarian government then why are handguns illegal?

[Alonzo]

That seems to be the most libertarian government with their laws such as legalizing marijuana, prostitution, and same-sex marriage, and banning the death penalty. So if that is the message they are trying to put out then why are citizens not allowed (with a license of course) to carry a handgun?

[Jim]

Most countries have banned the death penalty so that is not really libertarian at all. Same for being able to carry handguns.

Otherwise Holland is not all that liberal. It is more tolerant than anything else. Drugs are tolerated (not legalised). You are right about same sex marriage though.

It basically shares many of the left leaning policies of Scandinavian countries but otherwise people are quite conservative. Read up on "Calvanism" to find out more about this.

[BB]

It's a liberal society, not libertarian. There is quite a big difference between the two.

[Jeroen Wijnands]

Because they believe it's safer. Carry licenses, concealed or otherwise, for handguns are very rare in Europe. We do have far, far less gun crime in Europe that you do in the US of A.

Oh, and marijuana isn't legalized, just decriminalized.

[koukou]

Why would you need a gun anyway?
Europeans are in general peaceful and guns averse. You can have a gun but there is no perpuse to carry it around.. Why would you need something like that? Police is there to protect you in any case.. plus you re not allowed to hurt anyone with a gun even in defence. And the reason behind that is a strong belief that the freedom of one stops at the point where the freedom and the rights of another start. All these that you ve mentioned are situations where you re not going to harm only your self if you loose control.. with guns is not the same

[Dimitri]

We do not have a libertarian government at all. We have a coalition government liberalists and social democrats. (Translating that to the US spectrum, that would be left-wing, and off-the-chart-very-left-wing.) Liberalism mainly has to do with free markets, and the freedom to chose. Socialism mainly has to do with equal opportunities in life and the protection of the weak. "Guns" are a complete non-issue in the Netherlands, as it is something we only associate with police, the army, and criminals. Guns are not seen as something symbolizing freedom, nor equal opportunities. On the contrary, it is seen as something very dangerous, together with things like heroin, explosive materials, asbestos, all of which are prohibited to protect the population from harm.

Guns can be legal if you have a profession requiring the use of a fire-arm (e.g. soldiers or hunters), or if you're registered as a member of a shooting sports club. However, there are very strict regulations about carrying the things around, and the way they should be stored. Every holder of such a license can be inspected by the local police.