I often wonder why Switzerland doesn’t have this issue compared to the US. The US has so much untreated mental illness and trauma, lack of social cohesion, economic disparity, racial disparity.
Switzerland has across the board higher safety, training, safe-storage requirements. Guns and ammo must be kept in separate locked containers. The Swiss don’t keep guns for self defense. Guns are only for military duties and sporting purposes. The Swiss don’t keep that thang on em. A dispute isn’t going to escalate into a shooting because a Swiss is packing.
Roughly 42% to 52% of U.S. households own at least one gun. In Switzerland, historical data from 2004-2005 indicated that approximately 28.6% of households owned firearms. That number might be higher with a growing interest in shooting sports particularly among women. There’s also growing concern since Covid and the war in Ukraine. https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/how-switzerland-combines-a-passion-for-guns-with-safety/49115108
IMO the difference between USA and Switzerland here is the poisonous idea of American Individualism.
There is a mentality in the US that you are the only one truly looking out for yourself and your immediate family, so if you’re going somewhere you perceive as dangerous, or even simply “needing order” - which is everywhere outside your “castle” according to Fox News - you might be inclined to bring your weapon and make sure everyone knows you are willing to assert your safety and independence above all else. Endemic toxic masculinity ensures that any slight against you, if not remedied and apologized for immediately, results in peacocking and chest-thumping that escalates the situation and can easily become deadly.
I haven’t spent very much time in Switzerland specifically, but my overall experience as a USAian in Western Europe is that there is a much more pervasive understanding of societal good and collectivism (small C, not calling on any particular philosophy/ideology) that is almost entirely absent here in the states.
Yeah I agree. The more info that comes out about this, it looks like there’s a crazy nihilism/trolling thing going on. They were a part of those nihilist internet communities where they groom and egg each other on.
You wanna know a crazy statistic? Only 0.2% of gun deaths occur on school grounds in the US. That’s not meant to minimize this problem. Just to show how bad everything else is too. 58% are suicides, 38% are homicides, 3% other (police shootings and accidents). https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/05/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-us/
I often wonder why Switzerland doesn’t have this issue compared to the US. The US has so much untreated mental illness and trauma, lack of social cohesion, economic disparity, racial disparity.
Switzerland has across the board higher safety, training, safe-storage requirements. Guns and ammo must be kept in separate locked containers. The Swiss don’t keep guns for self defense. Guns are only for military duties and sporting purposes. The Swiss don’t keep that thang on em. A dispute isn’t going to escalate into a shooting because a Swiss is packing.
Roughly 42% to 52% of U.S. households own at least one gun. In Switzerland, historical data from 2004-2005 indicated that approximately 28.6% of households owned firearms. That number might be higher with a growing interest in shooting sports particularly among women. There’s also growing concern since Covid and the war in Ukraine. https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/how-switzerland-combines-a-passion-for-guns-with-safety/49115108
As a result they get the shooting range where youfire over a busy road and it’s nbd
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
IMO the difference between USA and Switzerland here is the poisonous idea of American Individualism.
There is a mentality in the US that you are the only one truly looking out for yourself and your immediate family, so if you’re going somewhere you perceive as dangerous, or even simply “needing order” - which is everywhere outside your “castle” according to Fox News - you might be inclined to bring your weapon and make sure everyone knows you are willing to assert your safety and independence above all else. Endemic toxic masculinity ensures that any slight against you, if not remedied and apologized for immediately, results in peacocking and chest-thumping that escalates the situation and can easily become deadly.
I haven’t spent very much time in Switzerland specifically, but my overall experience as a USAian in Western Europe is that there is a much more pervasive understanding of societal good and collectivism (small C, not calling on any particular philosophy/ideology) that is almost entirely absent here in the states.
Yeah I agree. The more info that comes out about this, it looks like there’s a crazy nihilism/trolling thing going on. They were a part of those nihilist internet communities where they groom and egg each other on.