Swiss massacre

[Carla_Danger]

Some say that survivalists are complete whack jobs. If that is the case, then the Swiss are first class loons. Surprising they let them travel outside of their own country.

We say exactly the same about Americans . Heal yourselves first .
There is nothing worse than meeting an escaped family of American Hilly Billy people over here on holiday in Europe . Apart from their profound ignorance of all things , places and people that are non American , the lack of culture and good taste is frightening .
There are exceptions -- of course -- but they are lost among the waddling crowd of obese sight seers looking for a city somewhere named Europe .

That makes me sad and embarrassed. When and if I visit Europe, should I purchase an "I am not a stupid American" T-shirt?

 

[blackcherry]

Some say that survivalists are complete whack jobs. If that is the case, then the Swiss are first class loons. Surprising they let them travel outside of their own country.

We say exactly the same about Americans . Heal yourselves first .
There is nothing worse than meeting an escaped family of American Hilly Billy people over here on holiday in Europe . Apart from their profound ignorance of all things , places and people that are non American , the lack of culture and good taste is frightening .
There are exceptions -- of course -- but they are lost among the waddling crowd of obese sight seers looking for a city somewhere named Europe .

That makes me sad and embarrassed. When and if I visit Europe, should I purchase an "I am not a stupid American" T-shirt?

You can spot them about the same moment you first hear them --- put your earplugs in and try and look very busy .
"' Look at those cakes, Cynthia . So Liberal "

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

"'Three dead' in Swiss shooting

Three people have been killed and seven injured during a shooting at a factory near the Swiss city of Lucerne, local media quote officials as saying.

The killer is among the dead, police and prosecutors are reported as saying.

Shooting broke out in the canteen at the Kronospan wood processing plant in the town of Menznau at around 09:00 (08:00 GMT).

Police and rescue services are at the scene and the entire area is currently sealed off.

"The workers were eating a snack in the cafeteria during the morning, and there was a massacre," said a man quoted by the Swiss news website 20minutes, who had phoned the factory to check on the welfare of his father.

An emergency telephone line had been set up for families of the factory's employees.

"There were three dead and seven injured, some of them seriously injured," prosecutors' spokesman Simon Kopp told Swiss newspaper Blick.

Switzerland has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world, but such gun attacks are relatively rare.

All healthy Swiss men aged between 18 and 34 are obliged to do military service and all are issued with assault rifles or pistols which they are supposed to keep at home.

Until recently, many kept their weapons even after completing their military service - though rules on this have recently been tightened.

According to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, Switzerland ranks third in terms of gun ownership, behind the United States and Yemen.

Street gun violence is very rare in Switzerland, says Emma Jane Kirby, who recently investigated the subject for BBC News.

However, there are more domestic homicides and suicides with a firearm in Switzerland than virtually anywhere else in Europe except Finland, she says."

BBC News - 'Three dead' in Swiss shooting

Though the rate of gun violence doesn't come anywhere near what it is in the US, I think it's interesting that they have 'tightened' rules on gun ownership in recent years. They must be concerned about the level of violence rising. It is also interesting that Switzerland, which has been touted as having an extremely low rate of gun violence, actually has "more domestic homocides and suicides than anywhere else in Europe except Finland."

It seems they are not as in control of their gun situation as has been claimed.

Actually you are wrong. They have one of the lowest crime rates of Europe I am told. I do know that in Britain Uk Wales they are not allowed to own firearms nor do they want them. ( the citizens ) The death rates there are from knifing, gang violence, bats, other weapons. Definitely Switzerland is far safer than other European countries. That is a known fact. I have a friend that lives there. They are all required by law to own firearms.

 

[Esmeralda]

"'Three dead' in Swiss shooting

Three people have been killed and seven injured during a shooting at a factory near the Swiss city of Lucerne, local media quote officials as saying.

The killer is among the dead, police and prosecutors are reported as saying.

Shooting broke out in the canteen at the Kronospan wood processing plant in the town of Menznau at around 09:00 (08:00 GMT).

Police and rescue services are at the scene and the entire area is currently sealed off.

"The workers were eating a snack in the cafeteria during the morning, and there was a massacre," said a man quoted by the Swiss news website 20minutes, who had phoned the factory to check on the welfare of his father.

An emergency telephone line had been set up for families of the factory's employees.

"There were three dead and seven injured, some of them seriously injured," prosecutors' spokesman Simon Kopp told Swiss newspaper Blick.

Switzerland has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world, but such gun attacks are relatively rare.

All healthy Swiss men aged between 18 and 34 are obliged to do military service and all are issued with assault rifles or pistols which they are supposed to keep at home.

Until recently, many kept their weapons even after completing their military service - though rules on this have recently been tightened.

According to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, Switzerland ranks third in terms of gun ownership, behind the United States and Yemen.

Street gun violence is very rare in Switzerland, says Emma Jane Kirby, who recently investigated the subject for BBC News.

However, there are more domestic homicides and suicides with a firearm in Switzerland than virtually anywhere else in Europe except Finland, she says."

BBC News - 'Three dead' in Swiss shooting

Though the rate of gun violence doesn't come anywhere near what it is in the US, I think it's interesting that they have 'tightened' rules on gun ownership in recent years. They must be concerned about the level of violence rising. It is also interesting that Switzerland, which has been touted as having an extremely low rate of gun violence, actually has "more domestic homocides and suicides than anywhere else in Europe except Finland."

It seems they are not as in control of their gun situation as has been claimed.

Actually you are wrong. They have one of the lowest crime rates of Europe I am told. I do know that in Britain Uk Wales they are not allowed to own firearms nor do they want them. ( the citizens ) The death rates there are from knifing, gang violence, bats, other weapons. Definitely Switzerland is far safer than other European countries. That is a known fact. I have a friend that lives there. They are all required by law to own firearms.

Your friend is wrong. They are not all required to own firearms. Switzerland is not far safer than other European country. They do not have one of the lowest murder rates in Europe.

"Switzerland has also been moving away from having widespread guns. The laws are done canton by canton, which is like a province. Everyone in Switzerland serves in the army, and the cantons used to let you have the guns at home. They’ve been moving to keeping the guns in depots. That means they’re not in the household, which makes sense because the literature shows us that if the gun is in the household, the risk goes up for everyone in the household."http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/14/mythbusting-israel-and-switzerland-are-not-gun-toting-utopias/


Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Germany, Greece, France, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Ireland all have lower homicide rates than Switzerland.

Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Germany, France, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Ireland all have lower homicide rates by firearm than Switzerland.

Switzerland is not the safest country in Europe. Only 27% of households own guns, but that is high in Europe. England & Wales, 4.7 percent of households own guns. In England and Wales, 11% of homicides are with guns. They have a higher overall homicide rate than Switzerland. It is the culture. Britain has a very different culture than Switzerland. http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcgvinco.html

 

[Esmeralda]

Some say that survivalists are complete whack jobs. If that is the case, then the Swiss are first class loons. Surprising they let them travel outside of their own country.

We say exactly the same about Americans . Heal yourselves first .
There is nothing worse than meeting an escaped family of American Hilly Billy people over here on holiday in Europe . Apart from their profound ignorance of all things , places and people that are non American , the lack of culture and good taste is frightening .
There are exceptions -- of course -- but they are lost among the waddling crowd of obese sight seers looking for a city somewhere named Europe .

That makes me sad and embarrassed. When and if I visit Europe, should I purchase an "I am not a stupid American" T-shirt?

It is not as bad as he suggests. I meet a lot of people who like Americans. When I ask them why, they say it is because Americans are friendly. Those who have visited America liked it there, again because Americans are friendly. There are a lot of rubes, Americans, who travel in Europe and act like arrogant children, but there are a lot of Americans traveling and living in Europe who are not obnoxious. I wouldn't advertise the fact I was American or any other nationality. I prefer to blend in, wherever I go.

Most Obnoxious Tourists? The French - TIME

^^^Interesting article on a world wide survey. The survey was taken by employees in 4,000 hotels in Germany, the U.K., Italy, France, Canada and the U.S. for the French travel website Expedia.fr.

Conclusion: Most Obnoxious Tourists? The French

 

[Politico]

You hate guns we get it.

 

[editec]

Switzerland has the lowest gun related crime rate of any civilized country in the world. A perfect society will never exist

Lower than the Papal state?

Unfair comparison you say?

I totally agree.

So is comparing Switzerland to pretty much any other nation on earth.

 

[Esmeralda]

Switzerland has the lowest gun related crime rate of any civilized country in the world. A perfect society will never exist

Lower than the Papal state?

Unfair comparison you say?

I totally agree.

So is comparing Switzerland to pretty much any other nation on earth.

How is comparing Switzerland to "pretty much any other nation on Earth" unfair? Switzerland is quintessentially comparable to any other Western European country. Why wouldn't it be?

Vatican City or Monaco might not be comparable to other European countries, but Switzerland is comparable to other European countries, w/o question.

My point, which I posted earlier in this thread, is to debunk the myth used by the pro-gun people that every household in Switzerland has a gun and yet they have almost no gun violence. This myth is used to support the idea that private citizens having guns in their homes or about their person is safe, proved by Switzerland. The rate of gun ownership in Switzerland: 27% of households have guns. In American: 40-45% of households have guns. So that doesn't compare. In additon, the rate of homicides in Switzerland, though it is far below that of the US, it is high compared to other countries in Europe that have tougher gun restrictions.

Comparing Switzerland to the US is not reasonable; with that I do agree. However, the constantly repeated claim that though they have so many guns in Switzerland, there is little to no gun violence: this is not true and people should not be using Switzerland as an example of a country without gun regulations that is safe. They do have gun regulations. They don't 'make' anyone own a gun. And they do have gun violence, lots of it.

 

[theHawk]

I don't think Switzerland, or most of Europe for that matter, have droves of Mexicans, or a bunch of black people who like to pretend to be gangsters. The "thug culture" that is prevalent in America and responsible for most of the gun crime doesn't exist in Europe.

 

[Esmeralda]

I don't think Switzerland, or most of Europe for that matter, have droves of Mexicans, or a bunch of black people who like to pretend to be gangsters. The "thug culture" that is prevalent in America and responsible for most of the gun crime doesn't exist in Europe.

I don't think you have a clue what Europe is like. Euopean countries deal with hundreds of thousand immigrants, large portions of them illegal, every year. It they had the lax gun laws the US has, they'd have a culture of violence too. I guess your ignorance is just plain blissful, huh?

 

[blackcherry]

I don't think Switzerland, or most of Europe for that matter, have droves of Mexicans, or a bunch of black people who like to pretend to be gangsters. The "thug culture" that is prevalent in America and responsible for most of the gun crime doesn't exist in Europe.

Have you got any other 'idiot thoughts " we could share?

 

[theHawk]

I don't think Switzerland, or most of Europe for that matter, have droves of Mexicans, or a bunch of black people who like to pretend to be gangsters. The "thug culture" that is prevalent in America and responsible for most of the gun crime doesn't exist in Europe.

I don't think you have a clue what Europe is like. Euopean countries deal with hundreds of thousand immigrants, large portions of them illegal, every year. It they had the lax gun laws the US has, they'd have a culture of violence too. I guess your ignorance is just plain blissful, huh?

Europe has no where near the ethnic population of the US. Not even close. Also, of the minorities that are here, their stupidity isn't anywhere near that of the US's minorities.

Your ignorance is appalling.

 

[Esmeralda]

I don't think Switzerland, or most of Europe for that matter, have droves of Mexicans, or a bunch of black people who like to pretend to be gangsters. The "thug culture" that is prevalent in America and responsible for most of the gun crime doesn't exist in Europe.

I don't think you have a clue what Europe is like. Euopean countries deal with hundreds of thousand immigrants, large portions of them illegal, every year. It they had the lax gun laws the US has, they'd have a culture of violence too. I guess your ignorance is just plain blissful, huh?

Europe has no where near the ethnic population of the US. Not even close. Also, of the minorities that are here, their stupidity isn't anywhere near that of the US's minorities.

Your ignorance is appalling.

And you supposedly live in Germany? I didn't say Europe had the same level of minority population as the US. I said they dealt with hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year. "As of 2006, the International Organization for Migration has estimated the number of foreign migrants worldwide to be more than 200 million. Europe hosted the largest number of immigrants, with 70 million people in 2005. North America, with over 45 million immigrants, is second, followed by Asia, which hosts nearly 25 million. Most of today's migrant workers come from Asia." Wikipedia

I have lived in 2 European countries. I have gone to the visa office to get my yearly work and residence visa. The visa offices are packed every day with immigrants needing to get residence visas. If you indeed live in Germany, you are familiar with the Turkish immigrants and the Turkish minority overall, which is and has been a problem for decades. I first lived in Germany in the mid-80s. The Turkish minority was not welcome then, and they still aren't. The picture you paint of them not being stupid does not jive with what seems to be the opinion of the majority of ethnic Germans in Germany, including your lovely Ms. Merkel.

I have traveled all over Western Europe and spent months in several countries. Immigrants are a problem, including illegal immigrants. The UK has about 900,000 illegal immigrants. Thousands regularly enter the EU through Greece. Germany, where you supposedly live, has about one million illegal immigrants. As well, you apparently are not familiar with the riots in London in 2010. The impetus may have been about college fees, but the ethnic minorities joined in, showing their anger with their second class status in English society. Europe has a problem with minorities and with immigrants, legal and illegal. To deny that illustrates much ignorance.

It seems to me your ignorance is quite appalling, your ignorance about the very place you supposedly live, not to mention you have poor reading skills.

 

[theHawk]

I don't think you have a clue what Europe is like. Euopean countries deal with hundreds of thousand immigrants, large portions of them illegal, every year. It they had the lax gun laws the US has, they'd have a culture of violence too. I guess your ignorance is just plain blissful, huh?

Europe has no where near the ethnic population of the US. Not even close. Also, of the minorities that are here, their stupidity isn't anywhere near that of the US's minorities.

Your ignorance is appalling.

And you supposedly live in Germany? I didn't say Europe had the same level of minority population as the US. I said they dealt with hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year. "As of 2006, the International Organization for Migration has estimated the number of foreign migrants worldwide to be more than 200 million. Europe hosted the largest number of immigrants, with 70 million people in 2005. North America, with over 45 million immigrants, is second, followed by Asia, which hosts nearly 25 million. Most of today's migrant workers come from Asia." Wikipedia

I have lived in 2 European countries. I have gone to the visa office to get my yearly work and residence visa. The visa offices are packed every day with immigrants needing to get residence visas. If you indeed live in Germany, you are familiar with the Turkish immigrants and the Turkish minority overall, which is and has been a problem for decades. I first lived in Germany in the mid-80s. The Turkish minority was not welcome then, and they still aren't. The picture you paint of them not being stupid does not jive with what seems to be the opinion of the majority of ethnic Germans in Germany, including your lovely Ms. Merkel.

I have traveled all over Western Europe and spent months in several countries. Immigrants are a problem, including illegal immigrants. The UK has about 900,000 illegal immigrants. Thousands regularly enter the EU through Greece. Germany, where you supposedly live, has about one million illegal immigrants. As well, you apparently are not familiar with the riots in London in 2010. The impetus may have been about college fees, but the ethnic minorities joined in, showing their anger with their second class status in English society. Europe has a problem with minorities and with immigrants, legal and illegal. To deny that illustrates much ignorance.

It seems to me your ignorance is quite appalling, your ignorance about the very place you supposedly live, not to mention you have poor reading skills.

Yes, they do have a muslim population that needs to be dealt with. I didn't say there aren't any immigration problems in Europe, I am just saying when people use gun statistics, its really not fair to compare Europe with America. So many different laws, and different people within America itself. Most of the "gun violence" in America come from the minorities, its just a fact.

Case in point, CNN's oped "America's gun problem is not a race problem"(even though it goes on to prove it a race problem):

Blacks are six times as likely as whites to be the victim of a homicide. Blacks are seven times as likely to commit a homicide.

America's gun problem is not a race problem - CNN.com