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   From: fafduser01@hotmail.com   
      
   >   
   >   
   >The Swiss Have Liberal Gun Laws, Too But they also have   
   >fewer gun-related deaths than the U.S.   
   >   
   >[Maybe it's because the Swiss have so few gun hugging   
   >American gunloons there]   
   >   
   >In February 2011, Swiss citizens voted in a referendum that   
   >called for a national gun registry and for firearms owned by   
   >members of the military to be stored in public arsenals.   
   >   
   >“It is a question of trust between the state and the   
   >citizen. The citizen is not just a citizen, he is also a   
   >soldier,” Hermann Suter, who at the time was vice president   
   >of the Swiss gun-rights group Pro Tell, told the BBC then.   
   >“The gun at home is the best way to avoid dictatorships—only   
   >dictators take arms away from the citizens.”   
   >   
   >Apparently many of his fellow Swiss agreed. The referendum   
   >was easily defeated. Gun ownership in the country has deep   
   >historic roots and it is tied to mandatory military service   
   >for Swiss men between the ages of 18 and 34. Traditionally,   
   >soldiers were allowed to keep their weapons at home in order   
   >to defend against conquering armies. These fears came close   
   >to being realized during the Franco-Prussian War on 1871; as   
   >well as World War I, when the Swiss border was threatened;   
   >and World War II, when the country feared a Nazi invasion.   
   >   
   >But guns are popular beyond the military, as well. Children   
   >as young as 12 are taught how to shoot as well as the rules   
   >of gun safety, and are encouraged to participate in highly   
   >popular target-shooting competitions. The country’s cultural   
   >attachment to firearms resembles America’s in some ways,   
   >though it has no constitutional right to bear arms—it has   
   >the third- highest rate of private gun ownership in the   
   >world, behind the United States and Yemen. Yet Switzerland   
   >has a low rate of gun crime, and hasn’t seen a mass shooting   
   >since 2001, when a gunman opened fire in the legislative   
   >body in the Canton of Zug, killing 14 people, as well as   
   >himself.   
   >   
   >So it’s possible to have widespread gun ownership without so   
   >frequently seeing the kinds of incidents that the U.S. saw   
   >on Wednesday, when a gunman killed 17 people at a high   
   >school in Florida. But how?   
   >   
   >For one thing, Switzerland’s rate of gun ownership is still   
   >substantially lower than America’s—in Switzerland the rate   
   >is roughly one gun per four people, whereas in the U.S. it’s   
   >more than one per person, according to GunPolicy.org. The   
   >Swiss Defense Ministry estimates that there are 2 million   
   >privately owned weapons in the country of 8.3 million   
   >people. There are estimated to be 300 million guns in the   
   >U.S., but 130 million of them are owned by about 3 percent   
   >of the adult population.   
   >   
   >Another way the two countries differ is in their rates of   
   >gun-related deaths. Swiss gun-related death rates are the   
   >highest in Europe. The figure for the U.S. is three times   
   >higher than that for Switzerland. Much of that is   
   >attributable in both countries to suicide. Mass shootings in   
   >Switzerland are relatively rare, though, with two in the   
   >past 20 years. By one estimate, there have been 30 mass   
   >shootings in the U.S. in 2018 alone, including Wednesday’s   
   >in Florida—though the number of fatalities in these mass   
   >shootings is only a small proportion of the overall   
   >gun-related homicides in the U.S.   
   >   
   >The Washington Post offers some reasons why mass shootings   
   >are more common in the U.S. than in Switzerland:   
   >   
   >Swiss authorities have a list of about 2,000 individuals   
   >they suspect of being willing to commit shootings. All of   
   >them are frequently approached by authorities, along with   
   >psychologists, and are forced to hand over their weapons   
   >immediately or are barred from purchasing new ones.   
   >   
   >Some sociologists say that Switzerland's military service   
   >comes close to an extended background check, too, and that   
   >the country's education system teaches children early on to   
   >search for compromises instead of risking open conflicts.   
   >Hence, while almost every home in Switzerland may have a   
   >weapon, access is still indirectly regulated and the use of   
   >weapons usually follows strict societal norms.   
   >Then there’s the question of what Swiss guns are meant to   
   >defend against. The Swiss trust their government more than   
   >citizens of other rich countries trust theirs. So the   
   >tradition of gun ownership arose more from the historic need   
   >to protect Switzerland from invaders than from the   
   >hypothetical need to overthrow a tyrannical government. And   
   >as Time pointed out in 2012, “the culture of responsibility   
   >and safety … is anchored in society and passed from   
   >generation to generation.”   
   >   
   >The fundamental difference between Switzerland and the U.S.   
   >when it comes to buying guns is not the ease of   
   >purchase—it’s easy in both countries—but the regulations   
   >that are associated with gun ownership in Switzerland. Most   
   >firearms, with the exception of fully automatic weapons, are   
   >legal. But background checks are mandated, which is not   
   >always the case in the U.S. Heavy machine guns and military   
   >weapons such as grenade launchers are banned in Switzerland;   
   >under some circumstances they can be purchased in the U.S.   
   >Public-carrying permits are issued rarely. Guns can be   
   >transported, but must remain unloaded at all times when   
   >they’re not in use.   
   >   
   >Hunting weapons must be registered with the local Canton.   
   >Pistols, rifles, and semiautomatic weapons require a   
   >license. The paperwork is relatively easy to obtain—and   
   >Cantons can make exceptions for individuals. (Citizens of   
   >Albania, Algeria, Sri Lanka, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia and   
   >Herzegovina, Serbia, and Turkey who live in the country as   
   >permanent residents are forbidden from buying guns because   
   >of their nations’ history of civil war.)   
   >   
   >Switzerland’s relatively liberal rules may soon face a   
   >challenge from outside the country’s borders, however. The   
   >country is a member of the Schengen area, the group of 26   
   >European countries that allows for the free movement of   
   >people. Some other members of the Schengen area are also   
   >members of the European Union (Switzerland is not). Last   
   >year the EU tightened the restrictions on gun ownership and   
   >Switzerland, as a member of the Schengen, must bring its   
   >laws in line with the new regulations by August of this   
   >year. Swiss gun-rights advocates are already planning a   
   >legal challenge because, among other things, it revisits the   
   >idea of a gun registry.   
   >   
   >“When conflicts arise, Switzerland must put its sovereignty   
   >first,” Christoph Blocher, the vice president of the SVP,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)