do I need to look up gun laws in Sweden too?
No, I was in a hurry. My apologies.
There is quite a bit of information on Switzerland's "gun culture". First, they are shifting to storing military weapons at central depots as opposed to people's homes for safety. Second, they do not allow concealed carry without demonstrating exceptional need, and they require you to demonstrate the situation has not changed every six months.
Yes, but I've seen this before. There are similar articles from the pro-gun crowd which use Switzerland to show that handing out assault rifles and military pistols reduces crime. Both sides select particular data and run with it. The gun control advocates pretend that the militia is somehow comparable to military possession of guns, ignore the gun culture, and much else, while the pro-gun crowd ignores the cultural differences between the Swiss "gun culture" and the US as well as the far greater prevalency of violence in the US. One can't find Swiss college students at a gun store having never held a gun before.
Rather than look at media articles, press releases, and similar sources, I've relied on thing like peer-reviewed articles, publications by international organizations devoted to reducing small-arms traffic, global violence, and so forth (WHO, HEUNI, Eurostat, etc.), and other scholarship. Of course, even this material can have biases, but the nature of academic discourse compared to popular media limits these. Descriptions like the following are not rare:
"Any consideration of Swiss firearms law must recognize that the people are free to come and go to shooting competitions throughout the country, and
competitors are commonly seen with firearms on trains, buses, bicycles, and on foot. Assault rifles are hung on hat racks in restaurants and are carried on the shoulder on the sidewalk. While a rifle with a folding stock may be carried in a backpack—its telltale barrel with flash suppressor sticking out of the top—rifles are otherwise just carried without cases...Since the founding of the Swiss Confederation in 1291, every man has been required to be armed and to serve in the militia army. Today, every male when he turns twenty years old is issued a Sturmgewehr 90 military rifle and required to keep it at home.
When one is no longer required to serve—typically at age forty-two—he may keep his rifle (converted from automatic to semi-automatic) or pistol (in the case of an officer or specialized unit). Of the pervasive rifle in the pantry of the typical Swiss home, one observer quipped: “When the Swiss housewife cleans the closets, she takes her husband’s rifle and polishes that too. There may be shinier soldiers than the Swiss, but truly there are no shinier rifles than those of the Swiss."
Citizens in Arms: The Swiss Experience
Also, interestingly enough, scholarly sources tend to de-emphasize military rifles and pistols when comparing Switzerland to other countries in studies on global, European, or Western gun violence, but not when the same journals, groups, etc., write about Switzerland alone:
"By law, every Swiss citizen subjected to military service in the Swiss Army keeps his personal military weapon at home in between the trainings. At the completion of the mandatory service, the army weapons (
handgun and assault rifle)
can be kept or returned. At the time of the study, every Swiss soldier also kept a limited amount of personal ammunition at home. This specific clause in the Swiss weapon law has now been changed as a direct and first consequence of the recent political debate.
At the same time, shooting as a sport has a long tradition in Switzerland. Therefore, any person without a criminal record can purchase a weapon as well as ammunition, store it at home and use it for shooting sport. All together, an estimated 2.2 million modern weapons are owned by approximately 7.4 million Swiss citizens, with a weapon present in almost 1 in every 3 Swiss households."
Homicide–Suicide Cases in Switzerland and Their Impact on the Swiss Weapon Law
Perhaps the best contrast demonstrating the pro-gun control attitude behind most academic sources is the following two studies. In "International correlations between gun ownershipand rates of homicide and suicide", a study which included the US, Europe, and Canada, they managed to get low numbers for gun ownership and gun related falaties by excluding "military weapons", which is a primary source of private ownership. However, when the goal wasn't to compare Switzerland to other countries (in particular the US), all of a sudden military guns (including pistols and including privately owned or leased military weapons) are the focus, in e.g., "Use of Army Weapons and Private Firearms for Suicide and Homicide in the Region of Basel, Switzerland." Privately owned guns involved in fatalities included assault rifles and pistols (among other guns). We find a 19 year old using his father's pistol for revenge, a nearly 50 year old man killing his estranged wife with an army pistol his friend left him, and in fact nearly half the pistols used in homicides in this study (which only covered a single region in Switzerland) were acquired illegally thanks to the availability of guns in that country. The authors conclude that the militia system has too many loopholes allowing the supply of military weapons, from pistols to assault rifles, to pass from hand to hand quite apart from any military regulation.
Nobody was packing. I wonder if perhaps the impression you've picked up is somewhat inaccurate.
That's possible. I have only the various international groups, academic journals and volumes, and the people I know who have spent time in Switzerland for military or paramilitary training. On the other hand, how do you know who was carrying?
You are, I believe, absolutely correct that the "gun mentality" in Switzerland is dissimilar in many ways to the US. But the militia was created in much the same way that the US's militia was, and its mandate is remarkably similar to the reason behind US 2nd amendment. I believe much of the gun culture in the US stems from the countries origins and the "gun in every household" going back to the inception of this country. That same "gun in every household" ideal is realized far more in Switzerland than here. The difference is not in the amount of lethal weaponry, access to firearms, gun laws, or anything to do with gun control. It is that the US is a more violent culture and although many places where guns are prevalent do have a love of shooting, competition, and other non-violent gun-related activities, there is also a "don't tread on me" mindset as well. Switzerland has repeatedly resisted stricter gun control. And thanks to loopholes and the sheer prevalence of guns, people do carry on their person or in their vehicles. But it is not (so far as I can tell), for defence. So while it is easy enough to find people in Switzerland with pistols and assault rifles, unlike their US counterparts they may very well never carry except (as they are supposed to) to sporting events or gun clubs.
I am specifically talking about secretly packing heat.
I understand. And I agree that someone carrying a concealed firearm is almost always carrying it just in case they have to use it on another human. I simply objected to the idea that the guns they carry are themselves solely for that.
It's a bizarre thing to do, from the perspective of law-abiding citizens of every OECD country except the US. I don't understand the impulse to be perpetually vigilant against possible attack.
Where I lived almost my entire life (Massachusetts), it was a bizarre thing. I'm used to that view, and I have held it myself. In all honesty, I am not that big of a fan of guns. I have trained rather extensively with them mainly because 1) of a previous job and 2) because I moved out of traditional martial arts years ago and now train in combat oriented styles and with groups that continually develop their tactics based on real-world experience from law enforcement and special operations groups. But I don't carry a firearm.
On the other hand, I have been attacked, and it was a potentially lethal situation. I have never been able to come up with even a speculative theory concerning why I was targeted. Had I been carrying then, the incident may have stopped just as it started. I do not personally know many citizens who have successfully defended themselves from an assailant or assailants using their firearm. It is very difficult to get an idea from the literature on how frequently armed citizens prevent violence (especially compared to how easy it is to get the numbers on how often serious harm or death is caused by gun-related accidents). I disagree with most of those who are anti-gun control in the US who believe that the 2nd amendment unconditionally guarentees citizens the right to firearms or that owning a gun is a fundamental right. I do believe, however, that comparing gun violence in the US to countries like Canada or European countries and ascribing the differences to gun control is flawed logic. Gun control would not work in this country in the ways it has worked elsewhere for many of the same reasons the prevalence of guns in Switzerland cannot be compared to the prevalence in the US.
I'm not talking about collecting or target shooting, though, I am specifically talking about secretly packing heat. It's a bizarre thing to do, from the perspective of law-abiding citizens of every OECD country except the US. I don't understand the impulse to be perpetually vigilant against possible attack.
