Switzerland is up there because it has no standing professional army - it allows it's citizens to possess military full automatic weapons in their homes.
It is a good place to look isn't it
Gun politics in Switzerland are unique in Europe. Switzerland does not have a standing army, instead opting for a people's militia for its national defense. The vast majority of men between the ages of 20 and 30 are conscripted into the militia and undergo military training, including weapons training. The personal weapons of the militia are kept at home as part of the military obligations
My maternal family (mohers side) are all Swiss (named de Montfort). I have 4 cousins who had to do their military service in the 1980's there and all of them held full auto firearms at their homes
But despite this, the level of gun crime there is minute.
modplod wrote:Switzerland is up there because it has no standing professional army - it allows it's citizens to possess military full automatic weapons in their homes.
12mp82 wrote:The vast majority of men between the ages of 20 and 30 are conscripted into the militia and undergo military training, including weapons training. The personal weapons of the militia are kept at home as part of the military obligations
They may be citizens in some ways, but they are part of the militia, which appears to be state sponsored, so although they have no standing professional army they have a darned good fighting force that are effectively on call ex-servicemen/women, does that sort of make sense ?
This thread has been a most interesting read, and a good discussion on, let's face it, an issue that is relevant to prepping.
I think the UK gun laws are about right, I don't think it would be a good idea for the general public here to have as easy access to guns as in the United States, as much as I would like a gun myself not only for self defense reasons, but also just to do some target shooting for fun/practice, and just to see what it's like never having used one before.
However if I was an American I would certainly be opposed to adopting UK style gun laws over there simply because I think the cat is well and truly out of the bag with a quarter billion guns in circulation, and a ban would simply disarm all the good guys leaving them at the mercy of the bad guys who would surely disregard any further gun control.
A side note, there's a link to a story circulating on facebook, about a nutjob somewhere in America, I'll try and find the link later, this happened post Sandy Hook massacre, a guy went into a restaurant, armed and intent on shooting his ex-girlfriend, he shot her then proceeded to shoot random restaurant customers who started fleeing out the back of the restaurant and into a nearby theatre to escape. The gunman followed, continuing to fire on people. Inside the theatre was an armed off-duty female cop who drew her weapon and put four bullets into the bad guy stopping him instantly and without question saving many lives. Interestingly this story has received little to none national mainstream media attention, just the local news only. Powers that be suppressing a pro gun story? Make your own mind up on that.
Glydr wrote: Inside the theatre was an armed off-duty female cop who drew her weapon and put four bullets into the bad guy stopping him instantly and without question saving many lives. Interestingly this story has received little to none national mainstream media attention, just the local news only. Powers that be suppressing a pro gun story? Make your own mind up on that.
Unfortunately people just doing the job are rarely mentioned in the news, even in a situation like this.
Powers that be suppressing a pro gun story? Make your own mind up on that.
No just no mileage in it for the anti gun campainers or a sensationalist press, the media never has been about informing us entirely, it always serves someone's interests and makes them money, I don't doubt that good guys and girls with guns save lives on a grand scale every day.
Switzerland is probably a prepping country in many ways, not many countries could have a national service based on defending their own country, and with their location and weather everything is still seasonal, when we had national service it was not such a good thing, it was used to cling on to "our" empire and interfeer in other areas, not saying the Swiss are squeeky clean here but their version of all in it together/national unity must be better than ours, but as we know their position is unique.
I have a strategy, it's not written in stone, nor can it be, this scenario has too many variables, everything about it depends on those variables, being specific is not possible.
And the country holds a lot of bank accounts from other countries, so unlikely to be invaded There are a lot of interesting things about Switzerland from their past and their current situation, some years ago they developed some interesting 5.56 ammunition that doesn't fragment apparently, because they like cleanliness and fragmenting bullets aren't clean.
Glydr wrote:However if I was an American I would certainly be opposed to adopting UK style gun laws over there simply because I think the cat is well and truly out of the bag with a quarter billion guns in circulation, and a ban would simply disarm all the good guys leaving them at the mercy of the bad guys who would surely disregard any further gun control.
I totally agree with you, good point. Thanks for your valued input here.
Contrary to what some would have us all believe - There is absolutely NOTHING wrong discussing this subject when it's done so in a balanced adult way. Closing down discussions like this one is a favourite tactic of the liberal hand-wringing left and we should all resist it with utmost vigour. This is the way they close down discussions on things like immigration etc (accusing us all of being bigots). In my experience these people are some of THE most intolerant unpleasant people I have come across. Everything is hunkydoory until you start to disagree with their wharped ideas...
If there are any preppers here local to Kent, I would be happy to show you the ropes and encourage you? I possess firearms (shotguns and .22LR rimfire rifles) for pest control (mainly rabbits). Recently I have often used my airgun where it's unsafe to shoot liveround...
12mp82 wrote:And the country holds a lot of bank accounts from other countries, so unlikely to be invaded
You have touched on a very good point probably without realising it.
A country where most citizens possess firearms in their homes is very unlikely ever to be invaded in the first place. Can you imagine the USA being invaded? No me neither - the enemy will encounter constant violent armed resistance.
Here our armed forces are being cut to the bone as we speak. Soon the British Army will reduce in size from 100,000 to only 80,000! We should ALL be very worried about our political masters castrating it's own armed forces as well as it's bloody citizens.
I stand by my earlier assertion that dis-arming (castrating) British citizens is all about denying us the ability of resisting our government by way of armed insurrection and generally showing us all whose boss...
Last edited by modplod on Sat Jan 05, 2013 10:39 pm, edited 3 times in total.
In my experience these people are some of THE most intolerant unpleasant people I have come across. Everything is hunkydoory until you start to disagree with their wharped ideas...
We should ALL be very worried about our political masters castrating it's own armed forces as well as it's bloody citizens.