Switzerland has 2 million privately owned guns per 8 million inhabitants, but AFAIK their murder rate is not stellar high.
They own them because they trust their government or if that's too strong of a word, they are content with their ability to defend Switzerland for the government. Instead of defending themselves from the government. (But that sentiment exists too)
And of course most pistols are not purchased for hunting.
So to answer your question: none of the above. It's demographics.
There's a lot of unrecorded relationships, but family and intimate partners make up a pretty big chunk of the homicides in the US.
- Mandatory military service makes people know how to use guns
- People have mandatory health insurance and social security, means there is no need to shoot people for money
- Less racist police, means minorities dont solve problems by themselves with violence
- high minimum wage, so nobody has to starve
- Gun owners do not use guns to defend against burglars, so burglars also dont have to use guns
- Proper handling of drug addiction (including addicts)
- better mental health because of mandatory holidays, parental leaves, and a lot of chocolate
- Prostitution is legal, so no pimping
Even European countries with a decent social safety net still have some drug addicts (mainly heroin) who are desperate for money to buy that expensive drug and will engage in petty crime to do so, e.g. pickpocketing, mugging, bicycle theft, theft of copper wiring, etc. (And yes, some states provide assistive infrastructure for addicts, but there are still demographics that avoid it and continue their addict to street drugs.) The fact that there is almost no shooting going on has more to do with legal and/or cultural pressures on guns than the existence of a welfare state making life OK for everyone.
Petty crime yes, mostly bicycle theft, and some mugging
So if they have forced conscription, where does the vetting come in? Do they exempt, not conscript, the people who look particularly killy? Or does it come during their short military service? "19 year old Private Hans, we think you might murder someone in 20 years, we're banning you from ever owning a gun hereafter."
If Switzerland has less murder, it's because people feel less inclined to murder there. Why that is may be up for debate, but I certainly don't think a couple years of conscripted service right out of high school plays a role--or else you'd never hear about American vets killing anyone.
Presumably people with mental illness or certain criminal convictions are excluded?
>Why that is may be up for debate, but I certainly don't think a couple years of conscripted service right out of high school plays a role--or else you'd never hear about American vets killing anyone.
This is likely self selecting. If everyone in Switzerland serves then their average vet is essentially their average citizen, the murder rate for an Average American is probably low. The type of people who enlist in the US are not typically "average."
I don't think people who believe this have ever actually been to a gun show. Anyone who commercially sells guns is required to have an federal firearms dealer's license (FFL), not having one will get you in big legal trouble with the ATF. If you have a table with 100s of guns for sale there is a 100% chance you are an FFL gun seller in which case you are required to do background checks on all gun purchases.
Yeah it's called a background check.
When you buy a gun from an FFL they submit your ID (SSN, name, birth-date, etc) to the NCIS system that basically checks that you answered all the questions on the 4473 truthfully. Then the seller tells them what kind of gun you're buying (long gun vs handgun) and assuming it's all clear records the specific serial numbers on the 4473 which they then file and keep for 20+yr. So there exists a record of who every professionally manufactured gun was first sold to.
Of course nobody would tolerate being subject to those record keeping requirements for private sales. But nobody wants to get the pigs knocking on their door asking who they sold a gun they recovered from a crime scene to so people want to be able to call up the NCIS system (without being a federally licensed dealer, which is an onerous process) and confirm that whoever they're about to sell a gun to in a Walmart parking lot isn't a prohibited person.
Over the years there have been numerous proposals to open up the NCIS system. They've all included requirements about recording serial numbers and retaining records and are a comically bad deal for gun owners so of course it goes nowhere.
You can't have your cake and eat it too. If you aren't comfortable selling a gun to a criminal or someone with a potentially dangerous mental illness you need to do a background check there's no alternative. Maybe for your specific gripe, which I don't find compelling, you disconnect the background check from the specific gun being sold but you still need to do it.
Irrelevant but ok.
>A conscripted army by definition has lax standards of vetting and lesser standards of training
In Switzerland: "People determined unfit for service, where fitness is defined as "satisfying physically, intellectually and psychological requirements for military service or civil protection service and being capable of accomplishing these services without harming oneself or others", are exempted from service but pay a 3% additional annual income tax until the age of 37, unless they are affected by a disability. Almost 20% of all conscripts were found unfit for military or civilian service in 2008; the rate is generally higher in urban cantons such as Zurich and Geneva than in the rural ones"
>There's nothing magical about getting yelled at for 90 days that makes them less likely to solve problems with violence
You really think average Joe who walks into walmart and walks out with a rifle is going to be as responsible a gun owner as someone with military training? Also Basic in Switzerland is ~140 days for reference...
I don’t think Swiss is any different.
I literally posted a quote saying 20% of conscripts are rejected as unfit... But this is all way outside the original point I was making anyway.
Which movie is that from? I dont remember ever being yelled at during basic. Our "staff" never felt the need to raise thier voices. If you are infantry you know to be most afraid when the training staff say nothing.
Conscription in Europe is more akin to a summer camp, you really can’t compare it to military service in the US.