RE: this is getting serious18 Aug 2022 12:44
There is a reason for the low number of mass shootings in Switzerland despite the high incidence of gun ownership. Firstly, the Swiss nation is in general stable and relatively prosperous. Secondly, all men at the age of majority are mandated by federal law to engage in military service for at least 10 years (and often longer) and with this comes intensive education and training in the use of rifles and small arms. The latter breeds respect and a distinctly non- Gung Ho attitude to firearms (in stark contrast to the USA). Switzerland also voted to enact the more stringent criteria for semi-automatic gun ownership mandated by the EU in a referendum in 2019. I lived there for 10 years in the 1980s and the only gun incidents I ever read about were relatively rare suicides.