Originally posted by whodey
Does anyone know which country has the largest militia in the world? It is Switzerland. That's right, Switzerland has no standing army. Instead, they train their citizens to use weapons and require them to keep them at home in case of attack.

So the question begs, why are there no mass shootings in Switzerland it seems?

Ask Batman!

-m. 😞

Originally posted by whodey
So the question begs, why are there no mass shootings in Switzerland it seems?

The question should be why are there less mass shootings (just one to my knowledge). It is probably mainly due to the much smaller population of Switzerland.

Originally posted by no1marauder
If the argument is that stringent gun laws cause higher murder and/or crime rates, the empirical evidence is unpersuasive. Much of the evidence is to the contrary.

That does not mean that stringent gun laws, which impede the Natural Right to self-defense, are desirable. It just means that there are costs associated with freedom. T ...[text shortened]... decrease crime. That does mean that the costs associated with such a practice would be bearable.

Nice post. I think the safest I ever felt while travelling abroad was last summer in Belarus, which really does have an armed cop on every corner. But I'm not sure I'd want to live there.

On the other hand, 30,000 lives a year is one hell of a cost. And while possession of guns remains legal in other countries (even if subject to more stringent laws), I don't see how one can claim that a fundamental right is being violated.

Originally posted by Teinosuke
Nice post. I think the safest I ever felt while travelling abroad was last summer in Belarus, which really does have an armed cop on every corner. But I'm not sure I'd want to live there.

On the other hand, 30,000 lives a year is one hell of a cost. And while possession of guns remains legal in other countries (even if subject to more stringent laws), I don't see how one can claim that a fundamental right is being violated.

American levels of gun death are remarkably high compared to other countries which also have widespread gun availability like Canada. I don't think the mere importation of strict gun controls would lead to the drastic reductions in deaths you envision.

If one is unable to effectively defend themselves against dangers that are quite real and somewhat common because of government action, than the fundamental right to self-defense is violated.