“Official results from a national referendum on gun control showed that more than half of Switzerland’s 26 cantons voted against an initiative which aimed to ban army rifles from households in an attempt to reduce domestic shootings and a record number of suicides.” So that’s that then. Well, except for the Britain’s independent.co.uk impugning the result by associating it with racism. “A gun ban was strongly opposed by the populist, right-wing Swiss People’s Party, which organised a referendum last year banning minaret building at mosques.” OMG! They banned minarets! What will Switzerland’s Pinocchio-loving Muslims do? Let’s hope they don’t kill themselves or go postal . . .
Switzerland has the highest rate of gun suicide in Europe, with around 300 self-inflicted deaths each year involving a firearm. There have also been a number of high-profile killings. Swiss skiing star Corinne Rey-Bellet was shot dead by her estranged husband in 2006. One mass shooting involved a commercial version of the Swiss army’s SG 550 semi-automatic assault rifle.
That’s it? Three hundred firearms-related suicides out of a population of 7.8 million? One celebrity shooting and a single mass killing in 1991 (the Zug massacre)? For that they wanted the Swiss to give up their access to firearms used for their citizen militia? Wow.
The Swiss are known for four things: cuckoo clocks, chocolate, shady banks that collaborated with the Nazis, and their guns (including Sig Sauer). If they’re going to give up on only one, I suggest that those annoying cuckoos would make challenging targets.
Just goes show not ever one in eurp agrees that have there gun righst taken way from them is such great idea. Or think safe guarding there counrty means take way right for people in counrty to have owen firarm. It funny compare those low numbers counrty use gun control you see there suicide rate higher murder rate higher there crime rate higher than counrty allow there people privately owen guns.
Is the overall suicide rate higher or lower than countries with more restrictive gun laws (e.g. Japan?).
In Japan they use a sword.
And in the UK they use immigrants.
For God sake doesn’t anyone have the courtesy to overdose instead of using weapons?
No they don’t they use kitchen knives. Swords have been outlawed in Japan since the Meiji Era specifically the Sword Hunt of 1876.
I always knew that the swiss citizens were very smart, and they just proved it by rejecting this silly gun ban attempt.
Published Date: February 1, 2010
TOKYO (UCAN) — For the twelfth year in a row, the number of people who committed suicide in Japan has topped 30,000. According to statistics released by the National Police Agency on January 26, a total of 32,753 people took their own lives in 2009. This was the fifth highest toll in history, an increase of 504 persons over the 2008 figure and on average one such death every 16 minutes.
Good news. Is there anything like an NRA in Switzerland? It would seem to be the right place to start a “second amendment” movement in Europe.
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