Swiss Worry About ‘Americanization’ of Gun Debate

By ⋅ January 30, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment
Hunting rifles in the window of Daniel Wyss' gunshop in Burgdorf, Switzerland. (Photo: Tony Ganzer)

Hunting rifles in the window of Daniel Wyss' gunshop in Burgdorf, Switzerland. (Photo: Tony Ganzer)

While Washington debates what to do about guns, some gun advocates are looking abroad for inspiration, to Switzerland. They say the Swiss have high gun ownership rates, low crime, and lots of freedom.

But some Swiss reject the comparison. After a long-weekend, Daniel Wyss’ gun shop in a village near the Swiss capital Bern, is buzzing with sportsmen and gun enthusiasts eager to re-arm.

Wyss said his customers are hunters, sportsmen, collectors, and folks who want to protect themselves. In that respect Swiss gun enthusiasts wouldn’t seem so different from those in the US.

But Jo Lang, vice president of the Swiss Green Party, said there is one big difference. Lang is a survivor of Switzerland’s worst shooting tragedy in 2001, when a gunman shot 14 people in a state legislature. And he’d like to see the difference remain.

“In the United States you have a weapon to defend yourself, your home, your garden, your wife, your children; even the dog and the cats. This tradition doesn’t exist in Switzerland,” he said.

Swiss law requires men to enlist in the military or do national service by age 25. Women can choose to enlist. This compulsory military service generally means much of the population knows how to handle guns.

“In Switzerland to be a citizen and to have a weapon were very, very linked with community, or with the nation,” Lang said. “It was not linked with your garden or your family.”

But, gun control has steadily tightened in Switzerland; moving from little to no restrictions, to a permitting system and gun owner registries.

The debate over tighter rules was renewed this month, when a gunman with a history of psychiatric treatment killed three people.

“If you have an incident as Newtown, or Winnenden, or Dunblane, then the politicians come and they cry as crazy, and they make a policy to prove to people, ‘We are here, and we understand you, and we will enforce the law,’” said Hermann Suter, vice president of proTell. “But in fact, you never will be able to avoid such tragedies.”

Though Suter calls proTell a sister organization to the NRA, there are major differences between the organizations in terms of finding consensus. He said the Swiss have been compromising on more stringent gun rules for more than 10 years, including limiting access to ammunition.

“In a reasonable way you have to do both. You have to have normal gun control, and you have to have reasonable ammunition control. I think with the actual law we have in Switzerland we fulfill these two points. The most important point is the point of the society,” Suter said.

Suter thinks the Swiss military tradition, and sport shooting activities foster gun education from a young age, are important in a country with a strong gun culture.

Estimates put the number of guns in Swiss homes between 2.3 and 4.5 million out of a population of 8 million. The vast majority are military-issue rifles, bought by soldiers after their service.

Gun advocates in the US have argued that crime is low in Switzerland because there are more guns. And it’s true there are few shooting deaths.

But Roger Schneeberger, secretary general of the State Police and Justice Directors Conference, said it doesn’t seem that guns are a deterrent to crime, as US advocated claim.

Gunsmith Daniel Wyss in Burgdorf, Switzerland, advises a customer on a scope for his rifle. (Photo: Tony Ganzer)

Gunsmith Daniel Wyss in Burgdorf, Switzerland, advises a customer wanting a scope to work with his rifle. (Photo: Tony Ganzer)

“If you see the development of the number of burglaries in Switzerland this is a very negative trend—we have more and more every year. And if burglars would think ‘there is a weapon in every house, I shouldn’t go to a Swiss house for a burglary,’ these wouldn’t be the figures we have recently,” he said.

Schneeberger said from a police perspective fewer guns equal less risk. He said one of the biggest assets for Switzerland in preventing shootings, despite a gun tradition, is a well-integrated healthcare system.

Gunsmith Daniel Wyss agreed that fewer people fall through the cracks in Swiss society compared to a place like the United States, and maybe that is why gun crime is still rare.

And despite some in the US praising Swiss gun culture, Wyss, and many in Switzerland, think the trend will clearly lead to more gun and ammo controls, not fewer. And he accepts that as the current reality.

Discussion

3 comments for “Swiss Worry About ‘Americanization’ of Gun Debate”

  • http://twitter.com/Estella1029 Estella

    I heard this on NPR here in Houston Texas and I was so happy to finally hear things that make sense! This is a very hot topic here in the city!

  • Thomas Jefferson

    Here in America, we know how to shoot our weapons, we learn at a very young age, now I’m not saying you should be more like us or for us to me more like you, but in America the problem is bigger than you think and to answer allot of the questions why this is happening is very complex, so lets start history wise. Start with empires; all empires grow to large, get into debt and country starts to decaying, when government decay, the people start to decay, because the structure in our system is decaying, now we have allot of unemployment, because we spent too much money on conflicts and more than  one hundred and fifty bases around the world, that has nothing to do with keeping my country safe the USA, its really all about power. 
         Us Americans didn’t have shooting problems until 20 years ago and before that we had less gun laws, so the question is what has changed in the united states? media telling everyone that a mental person shot up kids in school? question comes to mind, if you parade about it to everyone wouldn’t another person with not in there right mind think thats a good idea? I mean if someone jumps off the empire state building, the next day wouldn’t there be policemen on the top floor blocking  tourist area so there is no copy cats? that question should be up for debate, but also what has also change in my society in the US? Break down of the supreme law of the land, culture wars, where tradition in America is being threaten by a new government dependent society, these are all questions we got to ask ourselves.

    What the Switz and hate to admit this but allot of my fellow Americans don’t know is that the 2nd Amendment  was made to protect against tyranny (abuse of government) ” a well regulated militia be necessary for the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and to bear arms shall not be infringed, Founding fathers statements on the 2nd amendments were clear on this; Militia ( every able bodied man) State: nation, keep: own, bear: carry, shall not be infringed ( To destroy or hinder; as, to infringe efficacy.) Noah webster 1828 dictionary. History also tells us what is Militia, war 1812 with great Britain  battle of New Orleans where normal armed citizens (militia) took up arms and fought beside our regulars against the British  and also in the revolutionary war of America, actually biggest force that we had in revolutionary war was the people themselves that was bigger than the regulars of our army.

    So the 2nd amendment was there for armed people to group up and train, like we are doing now, you can see it on you tube videos American Militia groups; that is our right under the 2nd amendment. So here is something from one of our judge a saying “My
    excellent colleagues have forgotten these bitter lessons of history.
    The prospect of tyranny may not grab the headlines the way vivid
    stories of gun crime routinely do. But few saw the Third Reich coming
    until it was too late. The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision,
    one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all
    other rights have failed — where the government refuses to stand for
    reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the
    courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees*.
    However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them
    unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once.
    Judge
    Kozinski silveira
    v. lockyer

    too long to explain more, but our system is voluntary  as in the Switzerland its mandatory  not saying its bad, I actually think it helped you maintain discipline and a sense of duty to preserve your country. But our constitution  the whole foundation of the USA is to have the smallest government as possible without it being anarchy, and yet government has grown to gigantic size and is becoming tyrannical, so to the switz, keep your gov the way it is and don’t let it get into entangling alliance, because my founding fathers warned us about entangling alliance, but  us Americans failed to listen.

    • http://www.facebook.com/david.busener David Busener

      I believe it’s too late right now – far too late to regain our freedom – and that world war is imminent, as fascist/communist forces continually build all while chipping away at liberty’s foundation. We dropped the ball. At least Swiss citizens have a command structure, supply lines, military medical facilities utilized by the militia and hence, the populace but even all the armed Swiss cannot turn a tidal wave out of its course. 

      Americans are not at all ‘regulated’. In fact, quite the opposite. We have become weak and dependent, unable to even make our own stuff in a free market, as government has shut us down through regulation. Hope I’m wrong. Maybe the next world war will clear the air. It’s coming and as a people we remain unable to cope without crying to government for everything, which is what ‘they’ want. I enjoyed your writings on this subject and hope others such as yourself are willing to step up and teach what needs to be. Thank-you.