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Curious, as I haven't been to Europe - were these at border posts? Public transit hubs? Anything else?



Yeah, transport hubs especially airports but also some railway stations will often have conspicuously armed police patrolling. And high-profile government buildings. The UK gun of choice for this is the distinctive HK MP5 submachine gun.

Conversely if you want to see the use of the AR-15 in public artwork, you should go to Northern Ireland.

In Switzerland I once saw a conscript get on a train and put his rifle in the luggage rack exactly as if it were an umbrella. But Switzerland is different (guns are mandatory, ammunition heavily controlled, the people are the "militia" and support the government, and the whole country is a mountain fortress).


Last summer when I was in Switzerland I got on train with at least 50 conscripts, all casually on their way home with a beer in one hand and an assalt rifle in the the other. Kind of a weird sight.


I've seen them walking around in train stations, airports, public squares and on the sidewalk. Remarkable from an American perspective.


I really gotta ask: why was this downvoted? It's composed of purely factual statements in answer to a question.


I guess it's almost as remarkable as the number of people in the USA who actually get killed by police.


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