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Comment by SpeedilyDamage | Hacker News Reader

Switzerland is, yeah. No such issue there, however.

Switzerland is about 1/5 the guns per capita. If you look at US state gun prevalence, it reliably correlates to the where higher numbers of police are killed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estimated_number_of_civilian_g...

Chicken/egg problem. Who escalated first?

Probably solvable by de-escalating both at the same time.

You can solve this by not giving police guns in the first place.

Ammunition is tightly controlled in Switzerland as far as I understand. Having guns is not that helpful without some ammunition. Most people are not going to be prepared to produce ammunition

You need a permit to buy ammunition in Switzerland, just as you need a permit to buy guns. But the permit is available if you do not have a criminal record. Ammunition is not more tightly controlled than guns, both are controlled, but not as tightly as in places like New York or California in the U.S.

There are also government subsidized shooting ranges that do not require these permits.

Buying guns requires a permit (and a background check and maybe a chat with the local police department) but to buy ammunition in Switzerland you don't need a permit. Just a clean background check that you can request online.

While true, the culture of guns in Switzerland is very different to the US.

People spread this detail without knowing that the Swiss instead strickly control access to ammunition.

I’m unsure why people think this is true. If you have the ability to buy a gun in Switzerland you can buy any amount of ammo just as easily.

The difference is strong regulations disallowing carrying/transporting loaded weapons and enforcing storage requirements as well as a very different gun culture without the emphasis on handguns for self-protection.

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