Shooting at Las Vegas casino

Where does Switzerland fall in those rankings?

 

It was not on the list.

Comparing Gun Deaths by Country: The U.S. Is in a Different World

 

I ask because I understand that Switzerland has relatively lax firearms laws and a relatively high rate of gun ownership.

 

It's definitely pretty wild that they don't have many gun homicides.

 

Even if you regulate guns isn't the biggest issue the gun culture in the US? It's going to take generations to change that.

 

The biggest issue is inner-city poverty and the drug trade, probably.

 

Domestic violence is far more prevalent at all levels of society and the large number of firearms means many of those incidents turn fatal. In the run of the mill murder suicides or family multiple murders we so often read the word "estranged."

 

Lax compared to the rest of the world, but it's also tied to a culture that emphasizes personal responsibility and tradition.

 

As the de facto voice of gun owners on SJ, I'm just telling you what will happen with that approach. As others have said, elementary school kids getting slaughtered didn't spur action (and, actually, gun laws were loosened in the following years), so I don't think Vegas empower the repeal cause at all. But it could get people willing to tighten regulations or ban high-cap magazines or other compromises.

 

The broader point is that the left has let the NRA set an extreme starting negotiating position for too long with nary a challenge. It's to the point that a lot of Americans and particularly conservative gun owners have internalized the NRA's Second Amendment stance as the actual Second Amendment.

Repeal and replace. Start sending cases to the courts. Take your pick. But something needs to occur to force the country's hand to begin defining the Second Amendment's contours, rather than outsourcing it to a commercial lobbying organization. It's obscene.

 

We (America) "like" guns. Other countries don't. Gun laws are like approaching the speed of light. You can try, but you'll never reach your goal. Because we like guns too much.

Switzerland is "up there" IIRC, somewhere in the top 10, but, like the rest, only a small fraction of the U.S. rate.

Switzerland has high gun ownership because military service is mandatory, and upon completion of service, citizens are given the option of keeping their guns (having been modified to a less, uh, military scale of power).

Some countries (Russia, for one) do not separate homicides into subsets such as "gun deaths", so the rate in these countries is unknown.

 

That sounds excellent. Can we sign up for that?