Switzerland has a very high rate of firearm ownership, yet has virtually no gun violence
Switzerland represents a striking sociological puzzle: a country with a high density of firearms, yet virtually free of gun violence.
According to the Small Arms Survey, there are some 2.3 million civilian firearms in circulation. With roughly 28 civilian firearms per 100 people, the Swiss hold the 16th highest gun-ownership rate in the world. More surprising, some 140,000 active military weapons are stored in the homes of Swiss army reservists; most of these are assault rifles, with the balance being semi-automatic pistols. When their military service ends, reservists have the option of keeping their weapon permanently.
Yet Switzerland’s intentional homicide rate sits at a very low 0.54 per 100,000 people annually; and most gun-related deaths (nearly 90%) are from suicide rather than crime.
Contrast that with the United States, for example, which has more than four times the number of civilian firearms per 100 people and around five times as many gun deaths per 100 000 people every year.
A major difference seems to be gun culture: in Switzerland, it’s duty-based; in the United States, it’s fear-based. American gun-owners typically purchase a firearm for protection against other people. So, guns end up being used in domestic disputes, road-rage incidents and volatile public encounters. Swiss gun culture, on the other hand, is rooted in historical military readiness, hunting and target-shooting. Shooting is a mainstream sport, and children learn to handle firearms from as early as age five. At the centuries-old Zurich Knabenschiessen annual festival, boys and girls as young as 13 compete in prestigious shooting competitions using military rifles. Because citizens feel safe from their neighbours, firearms are kept locked up at home. Carrying a weapon in public is banned.
Switzerland tracks private and commercial gun transfers meticulously. Even the simple act of buying ammunition requires a valid weapons-acquisition permit or a recent clean criminal-record background check. In the U.S., ammunition can generally be bought over the counter without a background check, and federal law prohibits a centralised, searchable registry of civilian firearms.
Finally – and perhaps most importantly – Switzerland is an extremely wealthy country with a low poverty rate, a robust social safety net and high employment. Criminologists widely agree that the primary drivers of gun violence – poverty, gang turf-wars, systemic economic desperation and a lack of social safety – are virtually non-existent in Swiss society. The country boasts very high social cohesion, which is the “glue” that binds society together. It translates into shared norms, a sense of belonging and a willingness to cooperate for the common good. There is a high level of public trust in government and its institutions.
Perhaps more than any other country, Switzerland illustrates that gun violence is not an inevitable by-product of the guns themselves.
