Guns and the Swiss By John Steele

     The gun banners have a real problem with the example of Switzerland, which is overflowing with guns, beautiful guns, beautiful guns, but low gun crime:
  https://swissdefenceleague.wordpress.com/2018/03/09/switzerland-has-lots-of-guns-but-its-gun-culture-takes-different-path-from-us/#comment-24323 

“There is no official count of guns in Switzerland. But according to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, Switzerland has more guns circulating per capita than any country besides the US and Yemen. The most recent government figures estimate about 2 million firearms in Swiss households. Conscription is mandatory for Swiss males, and citizen soldiers store their weapons at home, making up the bulk of guns in households today.
The militia, and the culture it has fostered, is seen as part of the common good, binding a nation together in a mission of national security. That differs widely from America’s individualistic gun culture. According to a Pew poll in 2017, 67 percent of those who own guns in the US cite their personal protection as a major motive.

And differences with the US don’t end at cultural ones. In Switzerland, regulations have become much more stringent since the free-wheeling days before a Weapons Act was put into place in 1999. And they have steadily tightened over the past 15 years. Military guns, once given to members after their service and passed down for generations, can now only be acquired after service with a firearms acquisition license. Since 2007, army-issued ammunition cannot be kept at home. A gun under the bed for self-protection? Impossible in Switzerland. Loaded guns, whether military or for sport, cannot be carried on the streets here without a special permit which is rarely issued. Because of conscription, the Swiss are highly trained in weapons handling and storage. As he drives away from the shooting range Sunday, Mr. Steffen says he would never want the right to transport his army rifle loaded. “No, no,” he says, “that is crazy. For us, guns are for sport, and protection of our country, only.”

Switzerland does grapple with gun death rates higher than European neighbors, the vast majority of it suicide. Guns also play a troubling role in domestic disputes. But unlike the US, gun deaths out of self-defense are a rare phenomenon. Criminologist Martin Killias, at the University of St. Gallen’s law school, built a database looking at homicides committed in self-defense over a 25-year period ending in 2014. Of 1,464 homicides, in 23 cases defenders killed victims in self-defense or under duress. In 15 of those cases, a firearm was used, nine of which were the weapons of on-duty police officers.

The homicide rate in the US is about six times that of the Swiss national average. But when comparing domestic violence that ends in death with a firearm, the ratio is just under 2 to 1, a much smaller gap of gun deaths between American and Swiss households. “It is very illustrative,” Mr. Killias says. “It’s not so much that American people are more aggressive, or Swiss are so terribly more peaceful, it’s simply that gun use in the street [in the US] is quite common,” he says. “That is why robbery quite often ends with a shooting in America, whereas in Switzerland it is practically never the case.”

     The difference between America and Switzerland are vast in culture and race. America in a nutshell is a degenerate liberal cesspool, while Switzerland still retains a degree of national identity. Gun controlled Mexico is also awash with illegal guns, and it too lacks the national identity which the Swiss have. Japan and China, even having strong gun control, still have low illegal gun use. So, gun deaths are a symptom of cultural decline, primarily caused by degenerate liberalism, out-of-control big Pharma drugs and other non-gun related causes. It is ironic that the ever-sociological Left seek social explanations for everything except those things they want to ban!
  https://swissdefenceleague.wordpress.com/2018/04/23/11079/

 

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Thursday, 28 March 2024

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