I fully agree with Dr SuBain and his perception of Switzerland, particularly with regard to their culture. It is absolutely crazy to even think about comparing Bangladesh with Switzerland. I had been to Switzerland many times and, in fact, we are going tomorrow for a few days. My son who is married to a Swiss girl lives in Lausanne, just about 25 km from Geneva, with his family. I can see the difference - between Switzerland and Britain and between Switzerland and Bangladesh. Switzerland and Bangladesh are almost on the opposite ends of the cultural spectrum.
I don't know if you guys have read or heard about the story (a fact), which happened about a year ago. It is like this: An Indian reporter went to Geneva to cover a big international event. He met a Swiss reported in the meeting and during the lunch time they came to have lunch at a cafe just outside the venue. As they sat down, the Swiss reporter whispered to the Indian reporter and asked, "Do you know the man sitting next to us in that table?". Indian reporter said, he had no idea. The Swiss reporter said, "I will tell you in a minute, but just watch him." That man was having coffee and reading a newspaper. After a little while, he got up, folded his newspaper, went to the counter, paid his bill and started walking back to the meeting place. The Swiss reporter said, he is the President of the Swiss Federation. The Indian reporter almost fell off the chair. He started saying, "How could that be? He had no security guard, no P.A., nothing and I watched him that he even paid his bill. In India even an MP, let alone a Minister or a President, would never ever pay bills after having dinner at a restaurant. Amazing!" The Indian reporter was literally shocked at the difference in behaviour and attitude.
See the difference. This is the difference between a civilised society and the one which is not. So please do not extrapolate from Swiss situations to Bangladesh, you will be totally wrong. I will say no more.
- AR
From: Jiten Roy <jnrsr53@yahoo.com>
To: "mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 4 February 2014, 23:58
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] A Gun Culture That Works
We cannot start reading an article from a pre-conceived notion that - it is written by a gun-lobbyist and funded by NRA. If we do that - none of these arguments will register into the brain.
The fact of the matter is the result of the gun culture in Switzerland. This country does not have armed forces; they do not need them, because - every citizen is a soldier. Of course, education is a major contributing factor, which enables citizens to make better judgments in life. Proper education enables them to distinguish between right and wrong. Bangladesh has nothing of this sort; gun culture is not for jungle-boys.
The fact of the matter is the result of the gun culture in Switzerland. This country does not have armed forces; they do not need them, because - every citizen is a soldier. Of course, education is a major contributing factor, which enables citizens to make better judgments in life. Proper education enables them to distinguish between right and wrong. Bangladesh has nothing of this sort; gun culture is not for jungle-boys.
Jiten Roy
On Tuesday, February 4, 2014 2:05 PM, Sukhamaya Bain <subain1@yahoo.com> wrote:
Obviously, the author is a gun-lobbyist, quite possibly paid by organizations like the NRA. However, a simple reading between the lines of even this article and similar articles on the internet would make it clear that "social conditions are fundamental in deterring crime." It is not really the gun culture that keeps crime rate low in Switzerland. It is their culture of education, civility, honesty and responsibility that keeps crime rate low in the country. One might say "affluence too." I do not want to do that in the Bangladeshi context, because millions of head wagging children in madrassas are contrary to growth in brain activity (education) and affluence.
SuBain
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From: Jiten Roy <jnrsr53@yahoo.com>
To: "mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 2, 2014 7:16 PM
Subject: [mukto-mona] A Gun Culture That Works
To: "mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 2, 2014 7:16 PM
Subject: [mukto-mona] A Gun Culture That Works
The Swiss Difference: A Gun Culture That Works
The country had one mass shooting in 2001, but a resulting anti-gun referendum failed to pass. The Swiss will not give up the gun. Can their system work in the U.S.?
By Helena Bachmann / Geneva Dec. 20, 2012358 Comments
Michael Buholzer / Reuters
Swiss marksmen shoot at targets over 300 m away during an annual shooting-skills exercise near Bern
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Even as the gun-control debate rises again in the U.S. in the aftermath of the horrific school shooting in Newtown, Conn., the gun-loving Swiss are not about to lay down their arms. Guns are ubiquitous in this neutral nation, with sharpshooting considered a fun and wholesome recreational activity for people of all ages.
Even though Switzerland has not been involved in an armed conflict since a standoff between Catholics and Protestants in 1847, the Swiss are very serious not only about their right to own weapons but also to carry them around in public. Because of this general acceptance and even pride in gun ownership, nobody bats an eye at the sight of a civilian riding a bus, bike or motorcycle to the shooting range, with a rifle slung across the shoulder.
"We will never change our attitude about the responsible use of weapons by law-abiding citizens," says Hermann Suter, vice president of Pro-Tell, the country's gun lobby, named after legendary apple shooter William Tell, who used a crossbow to target enemies long before firearms were invented.
Switzerland trails behind only the U.S, Yemen and Serbia in the number of guns per capita; between 2.3 million and 4.5 million military and private firearms are estimated to be in circulation in a country of only 8 million people. Yet, despite the prevalence of guns, the violent-crime rate is low: government figures show about 0.5 gun homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2010. By comparison, the U.S rate in the same year was about 5 firearm killings per 100,000 people, according to a 2011 U.N. report.
Unlike some other heavily armed nations, Switzerland's gun ownership is deeply rooted in a sense of patriotic duty and national identity. Weapons are kept at home because of the long-held belief that enemies could invade tiny Switzerland quickly, so every soldier had to be able to fight his way to his regiment's assembly point. (Switzerland was at risk of being invaded by Germany during World War II but was spared, historians say, because every Swiss man was armed and trained to shoot.)
But the "gun in every closet" tradition was challenged in 2001, after a disgruntled citizen opened fire with his army rifle inside a regional parliament, killing 14 and injuring 14 others — the only mass shooting in Switzerland's recent history. The subsequent opposition to widespread gun ownership spearheaded a push for stricter arms legislation. The government and pro-gun groups argued, however, that the country's existing laws regulating the sale, ownership and licensing of private guns, which includes a ban on carrying concealed weapons, are stringent enough. The law allows citizens or legal residents over the age of 18, who have obtained a permit from the government and who have no criminal record or history of mental illness, to buy up to three weapons from an authorized dealer, with the exception of automatic firearms and selective fire weapons, which are banned. Semiautomatics, which have caused havoc in the U.S., can be legally purchased.
The authorities made one concession, though: since 2008, all military — but not private — ammunition must be stored in central arsenals rather than in soldiers' homes. The debate culminated in a nationwide referendum last year, when 56% of voters rejected the proposal initiated by anti-gun organizations to ban army rifles from homes altogether.
Although guns are responsible for between 200 and 300 suicides each year in Switzerland, Pro-Tell's Suter says these statistics have to be put in a wider perspective. He points out that the bullets used in suicides are only a tiny fraction of the 75 million rounds of ammunition that are fired each year in Switzerland during military and civilian target practice.
One of the reasons the crime rate in Switzerland is low despite the prevalence of weapons — and also why the Swiss mentality can't be transposed to the current American reality — is the culture of responsibility and safety that is anchored in society and passed from generation to generation. Kids as young as 12 belong to gun groups in their local communities, where they learn sharpshooting. The Swiss Shooting Sports Association runs about 3,000 clubs and has 150,000 members, including a youth section. Many members keep their guns and ammunition at home, while others choose to leave them at the club. And yet, despite such easy access to pistols and rifles, "no members have ever used their guns for criminal purposes," says Max Flueckiger, the association's spokesperson.
"Social conditions are fundamental in deterring crime," says Peter Squires, professor of criminology and public policy at the University of Brighton in Great Britain, who has studied gun violence in different countries and concluded that a "culture of support" rather than focus on individualism, can deter mass killings.
"If people have a responsible, disciplined and organized introduction into an activity like shooting, there will be less risk of gun violence," he tells TIME.
That sense of social and civic responsibility is one of the reasons the Swiss have never allowed their guns to come under fire.
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