The Switzlerand thing is a gun nut myth.
Gun ownership/laws there are nothing like the US. Individual ownership of firearms is tightly regulated. Strict background checks are required to purchase personal weapons, and concealed weapons permits are limited and very difficult to get.
It's true that there was a policy of issuing rifles and ammo to civilian households. However, only a limited amount of ammunition was provided in sealed boxes that were not to be opened without permission and were regularly inspected.
The policy has since been changed. Government issued guns and ammo are now stowed in depots, and only special forces types are allowed to maintain government issued weapons at home.
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/soldiers-can-keep-guns-at-home-but-not-ammo/970614
Private (non-military) ownership is for recreational/sport shooting.
The only private ammunition that is sold is specifically for usage at shooting ranges to practice marksmanship.
http://world.time.com/2012/12/20/the-swiss-difference-a-gun-culture-that-works/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ot-gun-toting-utopias/?utm_term=.8238bb18c731
How is it a "myth"? They own guns JUST LIKE US. They fight for their RIGHTS, just like us.
In fact, they PROVE the belief that an armed Society makes for a polite Society. The likely reason the Swiss
don't use them for crime (and only for deterrent) is because everybody has a gun. However, they can do what they want with the gun -
except commit a crime.
Which is the
same thing here!
Make no mistake though, they have as much love for their guns as we do. They just approach it differently.
Also keep in mind, we have way more people, so the odds of a nutcase is much greater than the one nut case they had.
You can 'deny' their gun culture all you want..the Swiss prove it's a people problem not a gun one. As well, millions of U.S gun owners don't abuse their gun ownership.
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SWITZERLAND
The Swiss Difference: A Gun Culture That Works
The country had one mass shooting in 2001, but a resulting anti-gun referendum failed to pass. The Swiss will not give up the gun. Can their system work in the U.S.?
Even as the
gun-control debate rises again in the U.S. in the aftermath of the horrific school shooting in Newtown,
Conn., the gun-loving Swiss are not about to lay down their arms. Guns are ubiquitous in this neutral nation, with sharpshooting considered a fun and wholesome recreational activity for people of all ages.
Even though Switzerland has not been involved in an armed conflict since a standoff between Catholics and Protestants in 1847,
the Swiss are very serious not only about their right to own weapons but also to carry them around in public. Because of this general acceptance and even pride in gun ownership, nobody bats an eye at the sight of a civilian riding a bus, bike or motorcycle to the shooting range, with a rifle slung across the shoulder.
“We will never change our attitude about the responsible use of weapons by law-abiding citizens,” says Hermann Suter, vice president of Pro-Tell, the country’s gun lobby, named after legendary apple shooter William Tell, who used a crossbow to target enemies long before firearms were invented.
Switzerland trails behind only the U.S, Yemen and Serbia in the number of guns per capita; between 2.3 million and 4.5 million military and private firearms are estimated to be in circulation in a country of only 8 million people.
-----> Yet, despite the prevalence of guns, the violent-crime rate is low: government figures show about 0.5 gun homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2010. By comparison, the U.S rate in the same year was about 5 firearm killings per 100,000 people, according to a 2011 U.N. report.
Unlike some other heavily armed nations, Switzerland’s gun ownership is deeply rooted in a sense of patriotic duty and national identity. Weapons are kept at home because of the long-held belief that enemies could invade tiny Switzerland quickly, so every soldier had to be able to fight his way to his regiment’s assembly point. (Switzerland was at risk of being invaded by Germany during World War II but was spared, historians say, because every Swiss man was armed and trained to shoot.)
But the “gun in every closet” tradition was challenged in 2001, after a disgruntled citizen opened fire with his army rifle inside a regional parliament, killing 14 and injuring 14 others — the only mass shooting in Switzerland’s recent history. The subsequent opposition to widespread gun ownership spearheaded a push for stricter arms legislation. The government and pro-gun groups argued, however, that the country’s existing laws regulating the sale, ownership and licensing of private guns, which includes a ban on carrying concealed weapons, are stringent enough. The law allows citizens or legal residents over the age of 18, who have obtained a permit from the government and who have no criminal record or history of mental illness, to buy up to three weapons from an authorized dealer, with the exception of automatic firearms and selective fire weapons, which are banned.
Semiautomatics, which have caused havoc in the U.S., can be legally purchased.
.....
...One of the reasons the crime rate in Switzerland is low despite the prevalence of weapons — and also why the Swiss mentality can’t be transposed to the current American reality — is the culture of responsibility and safety that is anchored in society and passed from generation to generation....
The Rest of a great article...
http://world.time.com/2012/12/20/the-swiss-difference-a-gun-culture-that-works/