Switzerland has a simple "drivers license" system for guns without the U.S. mass killings

[UTUSN]

In my zero zone of influence I have wondered why a simple drivers' licensing system for guns doesn't attract anybody: Vetting for mental competence, training, testing, a time-limited permit that is renewable (or not) and subject to revocation.

So simple, surely should be obvious. *Not* confiscation of all guns or all the boogeymen U.S. gun-nutters raise.

It turns out that something like this has been in place in Switzerland since whenever.

********QUOTE******

https://news.yahoo.com/switzerland-stunningly-high-rate-gun-221301534.html

Switzerland has a stunningly high rate of gun ownership — here's why it doesn't have mass shootings

…. Swiss authorities decide on a local level whether to give people gun permits. They also keep a log of everyone who owns a gun in their region, known as a canton, though hunting rifles and some semiautomatic long arms are exempt from the permit requirement. ….

People who've been convicted of a crime or have an alcohol or drug addiction aren't allowed to buy guns in Switzerland.

The law also states that anyone who "expresses a violent or dangerous attitude" won't be permitted to own a gun.

Gun owners who want to carry their weapon for "defensive purposes" also have to prove they can properly load, unload, and shoot their weapon and must pass a test to get a license. ….

*******UNQUOTE*******

[NowISeetheLight]

1. Funny

The NRA mentions Switzerland in their claims that gun ownership is safe yet you can bet if they proposed Swiss style vetting for gun ownership here they’d be screaming second amendment.

[UTUSN]

3. The "boondoggle" side effect wingnuts love might be used to gain their support.

Wingnuts love boondoggles, cashing in or opening up new "industries" to cash in, attached to their favored programs/projects ("walls" and wars) tailored to enterprising contractors.

So this would entail many cash avenues:

* The drug-testing that is already familiar for employment.

* Add the psychological vetting and treatment.

* Training venues - studying & firing ranges.

* (Government?) testing & licensing. Wingnuts would prefer "Privatizing".

[mitch96]

2. THIS always made sense to me in lieu of an out right ban.. The automotive model

Education, training with an instructor, license test, insurance, registraiton and periodic renewal.... All familiar to Americans. The Israelis have a similar model to own a firearm in their country...YMMV
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[UTUSN]

4. You made it even better. Thanks.

[sarisataka]

5. Unfortunately there is no support for such here

For one side it is far too much.

For the other side it is not nearly enough.

[UTUSN]

6. For our side it *should* be nearly enough. For both sides, it could grow on them.

I remember when it was a matter of hissy fits that seat belts and tobacco bans first came around. What's needed is leadership with a clear, powerful voice.

[sarisataka]

12. Yes, it *should*

And I know the "no infringement" zealots would fight it tooth and nail. However there isn't going to be support from very many typical gun owners when the gun control proponents are saying such a system is a "good start"...

I do not know who the leader(s) of such a movement could be. The water has been poisoned by those who advocate no compromise so many simply tune out the debate leaving the field to the extremists. Thus we get status quo, with a slow trickle towards less control due to the make up of the courts.

[VGNonly]

7. Finland

has a population of 5.5m with only 9 gun homicides. Many Finns carry weapons, the peoples access of guns is closely regulated.

USA has 330m with about 45,000 gun homicides.

[UTUSN]

8. Comes down to the 'murican temperament vs furriners.

[gulliver]

9. This is what we should be talking about.

I'm also for taking lawsuit protection away from gun dealers and manufacturers, but that's a complicated issue.

[UTUSN]

10. Seems like DU is a good venue to drum up visibility. Plus some high profile voices.

Beto might have been (could be?) perfect for this, but he started off with the "confiscate" thing (walked back) so is a lightning rod.


*** ON EDIT: Duh, I should have thought of somebody like, oh I don't know, President BIDEN?! - A side effect would be to turn the wingnuts' claim that he campaigned-on-unity-&-doesn't-do-it on its head. A moderate, common sense program appealing to unity.

[Midnight Writer]

11. I think this is sensible.

[hunter]

13. Many of the gun industry's biggest customers wouldn't pass scrutiny by Swiss police.

Most U.S. Americans don't care enough about guns to bother owning one.

Many gun owners have them for utilitarian purposes, for example, hunters and ranchers. Mostly those guns are kept locked away and used only occasionally. These guns last nearly forever and are infrequently replaced.

The biggest customers for new guns are part of cultures that fetishize guns. They own guns already, and they are buying more. It's this market that makes it so easy for mass murderers and other violent criminals to obtain guns in the U.S.A., legally or illegally.

In Switzerland it's likely some of the U.S. gun industry's best customers and "right to keep and bear arms" advocates wouldn't be licensed to own any guns at all.

[UTUSN]

14. "wouldn't pass scrutiny" - HAH! (rueful laughter), too true.

I am a veteran who had no contact with weaponry before and after military service. My government did its darnedest by putting me through paces of fairly intensive training twice. Just never lit my fire.

But, you know, once exposed there is a smidgen of familiarity and curiosity, so have entered a very few hunting type places over many years, minimal exposure.

But to your point of "scrutiny," in one place 3 or 4 of the gun sellers where standing around the display cases, eager for new faces, and one of them was one of those goofy enthusiastic personalities, sort of like Barney FIFE. He rushed to me and practically dragged me to give me a personal exhibition of his wares. I said, "I don't think *YOU* should be allowed around guns!1"

Everybody (including him) busted a gut laughing.