>there are significant loopholes, such as private sales and gun shows, where no background checks are necessary.
The same laws apply in a gun show as outside of a gun show. If you are buying from a private person at a gun show, no background check is necessary at the federal level (some states requite it though).
If you’re buying a gun at a gun show from a licensed dealer (an FFL), there absolutely has to be a background check done.
rupert20201 on
“Many Americans view gun ownership as a necessity for personal protection, a belief rooted in the country’s history of individualism and the perception that citizens must take personal responsibility for their safety.”
– ah that explains the desire for personal protection in school, or when people on the street refusing to hand over their wallet or car keys.
thundercatshooooooo on
The additional steps to own a gun in Switzerland is what advocates of “Common Sense Gun control/laws” in the USA want. We’ll get it as soon as we get a tighter hold on politicians accepting legal bribes. Which will be never. Sorry to be negative.
DonManuel on
So this is a psychological take on gun violence in the US. But somehow doesn’t mention at all the wide acceptance of the death penalty in the US. If the people in a democracy agree that “the real bad people” should be killed by the government, there’s the mindset that basically there are people who deserve death. Feeling entitled to take the law in one’s own hands is nothing special to any culture. But if capital punishment is such a basic part of that culture, it should be obvious why so many die.
Odd_Couple_2088 on
Let me narrow it down for you in one word: culture
starfishy on
I am German and growing up often went shooting with my dad. He owned a couple of firearms, both rifle and pistols. The regulations are strict. You have to have a clean record. You have to have your guns in a gun safe when at home and not actively working on them. When transporting guns you can only drive to/from the gun club directly to prevent the risk of the guns being stolen when the car is parked somewhere. In the car you have to transport gun and ammo in separate locked containers and the gun not ready to fire. Also, you can only get a permit for a gun if you can show you are going to use it in competition, at least on a regional level.
The problem with the US is not primarily the number of guns, but the way they are treated as toys. No training, no supervision, no requirements to own a gun in too many states, and no enforcement of existing gun laws
Jim_Lahey10 on
Canada adopted a similar firearms program. It’s about proper education, safe storage and safe handling of firearms. You don’t hear about toddlers grabbing their parents’ guns and shooting themselves or their parents in Switzerland or Canada. There’s an incredible amount of negligence when it comes to firearms in the U.S.
The_White_Ram on
This is silly. Lumping suicide and homicide together and calling it “violence” is entirely inappropriate and to be honest is a facetious miss-representation of the issue.
Gun homicides in both Switzerland the US are exceedingly rare.
Furthermore, gun homicides in the US are HIGHLY location specific and clustered.
If you are a citizen in the US and stay out of a couple of zip codes and don’t engage in criminal activity the odds of you being a victim of a gun homicide are astronomically small.
dittybopper_05H on
Another bit of misleading advice:
>“Unless you are a hunter, you are safer (and live longer) by not owning a gun,” Stroebe advised. “If you do own a gun anyway, take lessons in gun safety and also lock up your gun safely at home.”
The majority of firearms deaths in the United States are suicides, usually suicides by the actual owner of the firearm. ***Locking up the gun and taking gun safety classes aren’t going to stop that.*** After all, the owner has the key or combination to the gun safe, right?
Also, the people who commit homicides with firearms in general aren’t the sort of people who are going to typically follow that advice. They don’t take gun safety courses, because they’re generally felons anyway and can’t legally own firearms. And they certainly aren’t going to buy a gun safe.
This advise could only really help with accidents, and accidental firearms deaths are a *MINISCULE* issue: According to the CDC WISQARS reporting tool, in 2022 (last year for data) there were 463 accidental firearms deaths in the US, with a population of over 333 million people. The rate is 0.14 per 100,000. It is, quite literally, close to a “one in a million” chance.
Meanwhile, the odds of dying in a bicycle accident are 3 times higher, with 1,360 fatalities for a rate of 0.41 per 100,000.
This despite the fact that there are at least 3 times as many guns in the US as bicycles.
mcninja77 on
Something I don’t often see mentioned is how abysmal mental health care or Healthcare and economic mobility is in the US. If you have no social safety nets, no way to treat problems that would make an individual prone to violence then you’ll get violence
funkypunk69 on
Our culture and virtue signaling from movies just shine a light of glamour on firearms that is unnecessary.
I look at weapons solemnly as using one usually intends ending the life of another creature. I respect that other beings right to live.
The last thing I want to do is use a weapon. Most things are confusions and misunderstandings that could later be resolved.
Our movies and tv heroes save the day with weapons. We have to kill every adversary. And every adversary is the absolute black and white opposite of our views.
We don’t reflect our views in our media so our media reflects us.
IMO, We polarize many things without context for perceived efficiency/good while actually doing extensively more damage and harm over a lack of cooperation.
tkdbbelt on
I truly agree, culture, etc has a play. But not sure a country with over 300 million can compare to one with 8 million. Though I guess take any state and compare and you probably get the same comparison.
AVLLaw on
Swiss are different because of a homogenous population with strong education, strong social safety net, relative wealth, access to health and mental health treatment, heavy regulation on who, how, and why guns may be owned, and the Swiss primarily own guns for military service, hunting, sporting target shooting. Not self defense. Basically the opposite of the USA, though the number of firearms owned per person is comparable, everything else is different.
djward888 on
America has guns, Switzerland has guns. But America has both ammunition and insanity also.
Rumbletastic on
The problem with these comparisons is they are inherently comparing apples to oranges. But let’s ignore the culture differences and how guns are viewed, let’s look purely at the numbers.
Switzerland has 8.7 million people. It has a firearm mortality rate of 2.6 deaths per 100,000 people.
If we compare to somewhere in the US with similar population density, such as Delaware, we see 11.4 firearm related deaths per 100,000 people, or maryland with 11.8. About 4.38x higher.
However: if we look at violent crime rates entirely (not just guns), we see Switzerland has a violent crime rate of 50 per 100,000. Delaware is at 453, maryland at 454. 9x higher.
TL;DR
* The US has a violence and crime problem, more so than a gun problem
* Switzerland is too small to compare to US overall; Gun violent crime rates in a comparable section of the US are about **4.38x higher**
* Violent crime rates (in general, not just guns) in a comparable section of the US are **9.06x higher**
That doesn’t mean guns aren’t a problem and we shouldn’t do what we can to lower access to them for those who are dangerous.. but fixating on guns as the problem is treating a symptom, not the disease. Let’s do both.
parkingviolation212 on
Because Switzerland has a well regulated militia.
ThurstonHowellDa3d on
We have more delusional reality-deficient bible thumpers and institutional racism.
Swollwonder on
My father has a doctorate degree.
I had to drive to his house to operate a gun he owns because he couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it and didn’t know if he had a round chambered in it or not. Nothing was wrong with it just didn’t know how to work it.
He at least has the common sense to not pull the trigger and keep it safe in the meantime but the fact that he owns a firearm he doesn’t know how to operate is insane. And again, he is one of the more educated Americans. The top 2% actually. I know intelligence is multifaceted but still.
Some people shouldn’t own guns but our laws don’t reflect that.
18 Comments
This is false, or at least misleading:
>there are significant loopholes, such as private sales and gun shows, where no background checks are necessary.
The same laws apply in a gun show as outside of a gun show. If you are buying from a private person at a gun show, no background check is necessary at the federal level (some states requite it though).
If you’re buying a gun at a gun show from a licensed dealer (an FFL), there absolutely has to be a background check done.
“Many Americans view gun ownership as a necessity for personal protection, a belief rooted in the country’s history of individualism and the perception that citizens must take personal responsibility for their safety.”
– ah that explains the desire for personal protection in school, or when people on the street refusing to hand over their wallet or car keys.
The additional steps to own a gun in Switzerland is what advocates of “Common Sense Gun control/laws” in the USA want. We’ll get it as soon as we get a tighter hold on politicians accepting legal bribes. Which will be never. Sorry to be negative.
So this is a psychological take on gun violence in the US. But somehow doesn’t mention at all the wide acceptance of the death penalty in the US. If the people in a democracy agree that “the real bad people” should be killed by the government, there’s the mindset that basically there are people who deserve death. Feeling entitled to take the law in one’s own hands is nothing special to any culture. But if capital punishment is such a basic part of that culture, it should be obvious why so many die.
Let me narrow it down for you in one word: culture
I am German and growing up often went shooting with my dad. He owned a couple of firearms, both rifle and pistols. The regulations are strict. You have to have a clean record. You have to have your guns in a gun safe when at home and not actively working on them. When transporting guns you can only drive to/from the gun club directly to prevent the risk of the guns being stolen when the car is parked somewhere. In the car you have to transport gun and ammo in separate locked containers and the gun not ready to fire. Also, you can only get a permit for a gun if you can show you are going to use it in competition, at least on a regional level.
The problem with the US is not primarily the number of guns, but the way they are treated as toys. No training, no supervision, no requirements to own a gun in too many states, and no enforcement of existing gun laws
Canada adopted a similar firearms program. It’s about proper education, safe storage and safe handling of firearms. You don’t hear about toddlers grabbing their parents’ guns and shooting themselves or their parents in Switzerland or Canada. There’s an incredible amount of negligence when it comes to firearms in the U.S.
This is silly. Lumping suicide and homicide together and calling it “violence” is entirely inappropriate and to be honest is a facetious miss-representation of the issue.
Gun homicides in both Switzerland the US are exceedingly rare.
Furthermore, gun homicides in the US are HIGHLY location specific and clustered.
If you are a citizen in the US and stay out of a couple of zip codes and don’t engage in criminal activity the odds of you being a victim of a gun homicide are astronomically small.
Another bit of misleading advice:
>“Unless you are a hunter, you are safer (and live longer) by not owning a gun,” Stroebe advised. “If you do own a gun anyway, take lessons in gun safety and also lock up your gun safely at home.”
The majority of firearms deaths in the United States are suicides, usually suicides by the actual owner of the firearm. ***Locking up the gun and taking gun safety classes aren’t going to stop that.*** After all, the owner has the key or combination to the gun safe, right?
Also, the people who commit homicides with firearms in general aren’t the sort of people who are going to typically follow that advice. They don’t take gun safety courses, because they’re generally felons anyway and can’t legally own firearms. And they certainly aren’t going to buy a gun safe.
This advise could only really help with accidents, and accidental firearms deaths are a *MINISCULE* issue: According to the CDC WISQARS reporting tool, in 2022 (last year for data) there were 463 accidental firearms deaths in the US, with a population of over 333 million people. The rate is 0.14 per 100,000. It is, quite literally, close to a “one in a million” chance.
Meanwhile, the odds of dying in a bicycle accident are 3 times higher, with 1,360 fatalities for a rate of 0.41 per 100,000.
This despite the fact that there are at least 3 times as many guns in the US as bicycles.
Something I don’t often see mentioned is how abysmal mental health care or Healthcare and economic mobility is in the US. If you have no social safety nets, no way to treat problems that would make an individual prone to violence then you’ll get violence
Our culture and virtue signaling from movies just shine a light of glamour on firearms that is unnecessary.
I look at weapons solemnly as using one usually intends ending the life of another creature. I respect that other beings right to live.
The last thing I want to do is use a weapon. Most things are confusions and misunderstandings that could later be resolved.
Our movies and tv heroes save the day with weapons. We have to kill every adversary. And every adversary is the absolute black and white opposite of our views.
We don’t reflect our views in our media so our media reflects us.
IMO, We polarize many things without context for perceived efficiency/good while actually doing extensively more damage and harm over a lack of cooperation.
I truly agree, culture, etc has a play. But not sure a country with over 300 million can compare to one with 8 million. Though I guess take any state and compare and you probably get the same comparison.
Swiss are different because of a homogenous population with strong education, strong social safety net, relative wealth, access to health and mental health treatment, heavy regulation on who, how, and why guns may be owned, and the Swiss primarily own guns for military service, hunting, sporting target shooting. Not self defense. Basically the opposite of the USA, though the number of firearms owned per person is comparable, everything else is different.
America has guns, Switzerland has guns. But America has both ammunition and insanity also.
The problem with these comparisons is they are inherently comparing apples to oranges. But let’s ignore the culture differences and how guns are viewed, let’s look purely at the numbers.
Switzerland has 8.7 million people. It has a firearm mortality rate of 2.6 deaths per 100,000 people.
If we compare to somewhere in the US with similar population density, such as Delaware, we see 11.4 firearm related deaths per 100,000 people, or maryland with 11.8. About 4.38x higher.
However: if we look at violent crime rates entirely (not just guns), we see Switzerland has a violent crime rate of 50 per 100,000. Delaware is at 453, maryland at 454. 9x higher.
TL;DR
* The US has a violence and crime problem, more so than a gun problem
* Switzerland is too small to compare to US overall; Gun violent crime rates in a comparable section of the US are about **4.38x higher**
* Violent crime rates (in general, not just guns) in a comparable section of the US are **9.06x higher**
That doesn’t mean guns aren’t a problem and we shouldn’t do what we can to lower access to them for those who are dangerous.. but fixating on guns as the problem is treating a symptom, not the disease. Let’s do both.
Because Switzerland has a well regulated militia.
We have more delusional reality-deficient bible thumpers and institutional racism.
My father has a doctorate degree.
I had to drive to his house to operate a gun he owns because he couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it and didn’t know if he had a round chambered in it or not. Nothing was wrong with it just didn’t know how to work it.
He at least has the common sense to not pull the trigger and keep it safe in the meantime but the fact that he owns a firearm he doesn’t know how to operate is insane. And again, he is one of the more educated Americans. The top 2% actually. I know intelligence is multifaceted but still.
Some people shouldn’t own guns but our laws don’t reflect that.