How they roll in Spain

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SSNVet
H&K G36K???

According to Wikipedia the HK G36 was made in Spain under license by General Dynamics Santa Barbara Sistemas.

There could be some variations implemented by the Spanish military which might be different from the HK version.
 
I once had dinner at the Spanish Navy Officers Club in Madrid. It was interesting because it was entirely unmarked. You'd never find it if you didn't know where it was. You entered a tiny alley and took a left at the end. Suddenly you were in a beautiful courtyard with a doorman by the entrance. Holding a submachine gun.

Q: How much do you tip the doorman if he's holding a submachine gun?
A: As much as he wants.
 
I’m in Seville. I believe these guys are the regional force (Sevilla is a “nation” within a nation, like an autonomous state in a confederation with a week central government). They look more like paramilitaries.

The city police vehicles are blue with safety yellow stripes and are marked “Policia Locale”, those guys wear regular police uniforms with side arms.

We’re in the Old Town and it is heavily policed. Half the streets are for pedestrian traffic only. I’d guess 85% walk, 13% ride scooters or motor cycles, and 2% drive cars/vans. Cops are on every other block.

We’ve walked everywhere, out as late as midnight and haven’t perceived any threat. No gang banger types at all. Their society seems very civil and polite.

It’s been a great trip.
 
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I'm sure that times have changed but I remember being in a port town in Mexico in the mid 80's and being in an open air "bar" when some troops stopped in. The music went down and everyone put their hands on the tables as they walked through the place. I remember an officer and some enlisted men. The enlisted were carrying what appeared to be FN rifles.
After they left, music came back on and the place went back to normal.
Good times...
 
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I lived in Spain for a few years and the safety was one of the things I loved about it. As a local told me, there are no second offenders. First DUI lost your license for life. First violent crime and you disappeared. If I wanted to go downtown at 3am there was no worry.
 
I was stationed at Torrejon in the early/mid 70's. It was absolutely illegal for US military to carry firearms. And yet, many of us did. Both the Spanish government, first under Franco and the Juan Carlos, and the US government were dealing with the ETA (Basque separatists, think IRA and you're almost in the ballpark for nastiness).

I don't remember the names of the police organizations, but we had names for them. Local cops were "Policia". Nice guys who took care of their towns. Then there were national cops that handled everything from highway patrol to counter terrorist duties. They were the "Guardia Civil" Also nice guys who would go out of their way to help folks. Then there were the buys in gray uniforms. We called them "Federales". These guys took care of everything else.

We had a joke, only just slightly. If Policia shoot you they tell him not to do that again where it can been seen. If the Guardia Civil shoots you they ask them politely not to do that in public. If the Federales shoot you nobody asks.

Now back to firearms carry. Here's an example of how it was handled. Driving out of Madrid one night my car broke down (back then GI's couldn't drive new cars like today's service members). The Guradia Civil stopped and helped us get a tow to the local Fiat garage. Once there we didn't have a way home so the Guardia Civil offered to drive us home. Home was in a small town outside of Madrid. These two cops were officially off duty at the time.

Now I was bouncing between fire stations (joys of being the junior E-5) and I had my turnout gear in my car. The Guardia helped me move it too their trunk for the trip home. However, my LLama Comanche was under the front seat. I couldn't leave that in the car. So I took it out stuffed it in the boot of my turnouts and away we went. Now both cops saw the entire thing, but they didn't see a thing.

As a funny aside to this story, just as were were turning from the frontage road onto the highway, the officer in the passenger seat shouts. The car stops abruptly and he jumps out. With flashlight in one hand and pistol in the other he starts searching the brush. The driver just sat there unconcernedly smoking his cigarette. Meanwhile, I'm shoving my wife onto the floor board and cussing myself for leaving my revolver in the trunk.

A few moments later the first officer comes back looking disappointed. He then explained that he had seen a rabbit and wanted to kill it and take it home for dinner.

Now that was all almost 50 years ago. Since then Spain lost Franco and Juan Carlos took over. Civil unrest increased, drug use and crime went ballistic. It took decades but things are probably as close to those safe and secure days of the 70's as we are likely to ever see again.

By the way, even in the 70's it was quite common for the various police to carry submachine guns. The reason was really pretty simple. After WW II and with the rise of terrorism many police agencies wanted to rearm. But that costs a fair bit. So many used surplus subguns.
 
Back from Seville (getting into Spain was a lot easier than getting back into the U.S. due to ridiculous 24 hour COVID test rules)...

I've found the Spanish political climate interesting and did some homework. I had not realized that ETA swore off violence in 2011 and turned in their guns a few years later. Now they're conducting a "We're really sorry we killed your father/husband/son" PR campaign, as their affiliated political party struggles to gain traction.

Comparisons between ETA and the IRA seem very applicable to my mind.
 
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OBTW... if you go to either Spain or France, make getting a cheep cell phone your first stop, as their whole society is automated around the cell phone, and if you can't receive an SMS text, it's quite hard to do anything.... like schedule a COVID test.

The US seems more automated around internet access and e-mail, but even so, with two method security, if you can't get a SMS text, it's hard to confirm anything.
 
I worked with the Spaniards in 2016 while in Kabul at North KIA in the IJC J7.

Great bunch of guys. I was sort of shocked that they were armed with both HK G36s and USPs as they're not exactly a wealthy country. Another surprise was when they invited us to their Columbus Day celebration, complete with cake. I naively commented that Columbus was Italian and was quickly told that they (the Spanish) provided the ships and paid for the expedition, so it was their day.

They also had a fleet of Defenders (Land Rovers) with police markings that really interested me, being a LR guy. Unfortunately at that time they sat in a parking lot and didn't leave the base due to the IED threat. I wonder IF they ever made it back to Spain.
 
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Once I was in a cab in Peru and a local bike cop pulled up next to us at a red light. He was about 3 feet away from me. I noticed he had what looked like either a CZ75 or a Hi-Power on his hip, but he also had an identical one in a chest rig. A New York Reload in Lima, LoL!

The National Police in Peru carry short AR platforms sometimes and can often be seen patrolling in front of banks, etc. The Presidential guard carry AK's around the former palace of Francisco Pizarro which is now a government building. Once we were there to see the changing of the guard in the afternoon. Many other Peruvian cops and security forces just carry 38's. My Peruvian wife's cousin is a ex cop who came over to the house one day when we were there. I asked him what his favorite caliber was and he also said 38. Another time that we were down there we visited a winery nestled in the hills. There was a security guard patrolling the parking lot with an 870.
 
In 1975 I was on three month temporary duty in Germany. I managed to swing a week off and had my wife fly over and met her at Frankfurt International Airport.
While waiting for her to clear customs a Polizei anti-terrorist group came through and set up shop at the entrance to the main terminal complete with dogs, MP 5's and Walther's on their hips. This was the time of the BadderMeinhof/Red Army Faction, Black September terrorist groups and Carlos the Jackal was on the run after killing two French police detectives a few days earlier.
My wife, a small town Texas girl, was wide eyed when she saw these five big German cops with their sub machine guns strapped across chests and Shepard's on their short leads. They were intimidating and meant to look that way. My wife whispered to me "what's going on"? I said "This ain't the (United) States babe. Police just do things a little different over here, nothing to worry about".
 
I’m in Seville. I believe these guys are the regional force (Sevilla is a “nation” within a nation, like an autonomous state in a confederation with a week central government). They look more like paramilitaries.

The city police vehicles are blue with safety yellow stripes and are marked “Policia Locale”, those guys wear regular police uniforms with side arms.

We’re in the Old Town and it is heavily policed. Half the streets are for pedestrian traffic only. I’d guess 85% walk, 13% ride scooters or motor cycles, and 2% drive cars/vans. Cops are on every other block.

We’ve walked everywhere, out as late as midnight and haven’t perceived any threat. No gang banger types at all. Their society seems very civil and polite.

It’s been a great trip.
I love Spain. In fact, I've regularly thought of living there part of the year. One daughter went to college in Spain. I've spent time in Rota, Alicante, Benidorm, Valencia, Barcelona and Palma de Majorca. Gone in on advance dets and with mobile security det, rode a few times with the local police and swapped stories. It is a civilized country and a great country to spend time in. And to keep it gun-related, yeah, they like guns there and the country has a great history of firearms production (I love my Star pistols and my one Astra).
 
'Dog, what are the rules for civilians and firearms in Spain? Always like to ask this of nationals or visitors to foreign lands.
Thanks,
Moon
 
Scenes like that make you appreciate living in the good old USA. Even in our current state we are one of the safest countries in the world.

My middle daughter is a student in NYC and we (begrudgingly) go down to the city to visit her (and move her stuff... lots of fun moving a truck load of furniture to a 4th floor walk up... aka. no elevator, one of the worst days of my life)... we frequently see detachments of black clad, para-military officers. They are fully decked out with helmets, vests and M4s... and are always in 4 person teams. Not sure if their NYPD or TSA or what.

Also, Penn Station seems to always have NY National Guard guys (in decked out in camouflage :p) wearing boots, vests, and M4s. I got to chatting with one of the NCOs and he said it was a pretty good gig for his guys.

We aint in Kansas any more Dorothy :oops::uhoh:;)
 
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'Dog, what are the rules for civilians and firearms in Spain? Always like to ask this of nationals or visitors to foreign lands.
Thanks,
Moon
Alas, firearms are highly regulated in Spain. Never saw any, but was told that shotguns and rifles are commonly owned (there are some areas of the country where hunting is still fairly popular), but in the coastal cities, only the police have guns. Permits are required for handguns, and reputedly difficult to procure, though I was told by an ex-pat relative of my wife that if you have money, it's easier to get a permit. There just doesn't seem to be a "gun culture" in the country, at least, not where I've spent time. Strange considering the strong history of weapons manufacturing in the country (swords and handguns).
 
My friend has pictures of himself in South America. He's a computer hacker and looks very much the part.

He sees about 10 cops or soldiers. Full battle rattle carrying FALs. Might have only been 5 foot tall but very tuff/serious looking.

He asked politely if he could take their picture. Buy the end of it he is wearing one soilders hat, jacket, and holding his rifle posing with the other guys having his picture taken.
Coolest picture ever.
 
We were just in Athens Greece. There was some kind of protest in front of Parliament one day - let's just say their riot police don't plan to F around... Loaded with grenades, MP5's, and HK G3's...
 

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Very interesting subjects.

And they Eat Healthy And Tasty.

Have You tried authentic Spanish “tapas”/ appetizers?

Also-
Spain allowed German engineers Vorgrimler (etc) to live there after WW2 and develop the CETME rifle, which later was Allowed to be manufactured in Germany as the G3 (H&K).
 
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