Most Swiss men have military firearms at home..........

Originally posted by Merinda
They also never carry them anywhere and have them locked.I like the swiss system. You are trained in the military and keep the weapon you are trained with. The problem in the us isnt gunonership, its a lack of training and not locking your guns away in a time of peace.

Yes, this could be more the way the US founding fathers intended guns to be used.

The US Founding Fathers never intended gun ownership to include concealed carry or for you to stop robberies in public or even defend your home from intruders.

The Founding Fathers wanted citizens to have guns at home in case they ever had to form a militia and overthrow a tyrannical government - and that is it.

In Britain where guns are heavily controlled:

2009 gun deaths: 138

2009 US gun homicides (not counting suicides by gun): 9,146

www.gunpolicy.org...

www.gunpolicy.org...

Originally posted by ffman
In Britain where guns are heavily controlled:

2009 gun deaths: 138

2009 US gun homicides (not counting suicides by gun): 9,146

www.gunpolicy.org...

www.gunpolicy.org...

Yes, but the Swiss example shows that broad swaths of a population CAN own guns, without a high incidence of gun crime/violence.

How do you explain that?

Originally posted by PlanetXisHERE
So obviously high rates of gun ownership do not necessarily lead to higher rates of gun crime.

You don't have to go to Switzerland to prove that. Look at the homicide rates by state and you'll find that in places like Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming...areas with huge rates of gun ownership...the homicide rate is comparable to what you'll find in Western Europe. That's also true in a large percentage of rural counties in the US. Its not the guns that are causing it. Its the people.

Aside from the gang activity in the cities, which grossly skews the national homicide rate upwards, I think the enormous issue that the 'ban gunz!' crowd is missing or intentionally ignoring is that there is a mental health crisis in this country that is the root cause of incidents like the one in CT. That's the common factor and the one we need to address.

Originally posted by ffman
In Britain where guns are heavily controlled:

2009 gun deaths: 138

2009 US gun homicides (not counting suicides by gun): 9,146

www.gunpolicy.org...

www.gunpolicy.org...

True, but here's the real question...How many gun-related homicides did the UK have *prior* to their gun ban in the 90s? Just a guess, but I bet its about the same.

I'm betting that the UK, like most of these foreign examples, never really had a problem. Because of that, they're not a good predictor or indicator of what the US would look like under a gun ban.

To that end, I would remind you that the US has around 6,000 homicides yearly that are NOT gun related. In addition, we have some 150,000 yearly non-fatal injuries related to knife assaults (which is about 3 times higher than the same with gunshots). You can bet that under a gun ban, both numbers would increase.

If firearms are outlawed only outlaws will own firearms.