>assault rifles are still legal in many states and you almost never need a license to buy guns (including handguns)
I'm from France and I can buy pic related whenever I fucking want, including all the ammo for it, with nothing more than a shooting license. No background check, and takes less than 30 mins.
If you want funs to recreationally shoot, you can have them pretty much everywhere. And other countries in Europe are actually more lax in terms of gun laws that many US states.
>what in fuck's name do either of those have to do with free speech?
Stifling of dissenting opinion, dumbing down of the general populace and overall surveillance. You might not be aware of this, but news outside of America has a far greater information value, and the average guy is more educated on politics as a result of this. And you obviously can't have a free society without citizens educated on such topics.
Also, every country spies on its citizens to some extent. But america does it a lot, far more than others. So yes, it has to do with free speech.
And finally, never have I seen such dogmatism than in America (including canada where I currently am). So no, free speech is much better respected outside of the US.
