Hello!!! Did you miss "PER CAPITA" from Southtown's post?
Second, every adult male in Switzerland is NOT required to an assault rifle:
Source: http://www.politifact.com/punditfact...witzerland-gu/
But, again, Switzerland does not require "citizens to own guns."
The government issues a gun to men for their mandatory military service, but the gun is taken home under "carefully controlled conditions without ammunition," said Mikton, the WHO officer who is also Swiss.
"As soon as they have finished their military service — typically around 30 years of age — they have to return the gun," he said.
Swiss gun laws are more strict than the post implies, though less tough than some other European Union countries. Swiss law requires mandatory background checks on civilian handgun purchases and licenses for the concealed carry of weapons, and it bans automatic weapons.
Originally Posted by SpeedRacerXXX
Which is why my stats are per capita but Southie should have highlighted that for the other readers who are not as astute as you. Still...you are right that not all males in Switzerland own a gun AFTER military service. They are all required to serve their country and afterwards, if they want to take their weapon home then they fill out the paperwork and can do so. As for ammunition, no government ammunition but they can buy civilian ammunition within strict guidelines.
Let me take a moment to point out something here. Unlike in this country, there doesn't seem to be a major political party demanding that they change their weapons status to "banned". There is not that worry about what the next liberal/progressive democrat is going to do when they get into office.
So every able bodied man knows how to fire and maintain an assault rifle in Switzerland. I wish we had that.
The point of my stats were to impeach the idea that the number of available weapons had a direct corellation with violence as NBK likes to write. Tell me, do you believe that? If it were true then there would be a pretty clear ratio but there isn't. Look at suicides between the two countries (since NBK wanted to include suicides with violent gun crimes statistics). They are for all practical purposes the same. Either the US is very peaceful and level headed or Switzerland is very violent and suicidal. What do you think?
No, as I said, there must be something else that is not being discussed. Wonder what that is? It's not the number of guns. Maybe it is the investigation into the mental well being of each person who wants to own a gun. Something we really don't do here. There is a little check box on the form but that is it. HPAA and Sigma 6 are getting in the way of public safety in the name of personal privacy. Tough choice isn't it.
I could also go into what other European countries do that have universal service for their men and some women. Norway and Israel among others. In Israel, which I've personally seen, teachers are armed in order to protect their students. It is national law that when you have a group of students together, there will be an armed adult escort. How many lives would have been saved in this country if we did someone so common sense?
I think we can safely say that I have refuted NBK's idiotic claims at this point.
