Is that a gun in your pocket or...

Well, have one more week off before I start
an exciting new job. Chose carefully
this time and have a job I know I will love.
Just finished finalizing the details of my
contract. Even managed to get a parking
spot thrown in which is a feat in itself
for the city Edmonton.


So, as I was laying around not
doing much of anything, I picked up a
book to read. In the book it says that
all male residents of Switzerland, if they
are of an age to be 'eligible for military
service' MUST be armed with a rifle in
their home. This is in case Switzerland
is attacked without warning.

I thought "Can this be true?" So I go
to the God of information, Google.
Sure enough, site after site tells me
it is true.

" Ownership of an assault rifle is mandatory in
Switzerland for all men liable for military service,
i.e., all men under fifty."
http://www.anchoragepress.com/archives-2004/lettersvol12ed50.html

Call me naive but I found this stunning.
It also gave me cause for concern.
So I looked into their crime rates and in
particular, gun crime rates. They are very
low, lower than most part of the world.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1566715.stm

So, maybe that's the secret...if everyone is
armed, no one wants to be the first to shoot.

I also worried about the chances of children
accessing these mandatory guns. However,
the firearm accident is also very low. Likely
due to the fact that they are trained from
an early age how to properly operate the
weapons.

All those guns and I am afraid to play paintball!