That's what I said earlier. I was just quoting someone quoting me, and I knew that. I wasn't just "toss[ing] in one more misleading statistic." I just couldn't find my earlier post.

Pull the deaths by suicide and murder out of the figures and the death rate for firearms discharge falls dramatically.

It reinforces the point I've been trying to make all along: we need a complete change in US culture vis-a-vis firearms. A deep, cultural change. Not a half-assed patchwork of feel-good laws put in place after some horrific shootings.

"2. Special Regulations for Military Firearms, Sporting and Hunting Guns

Due to the long tradition and the special organization of the Swiss armed forces as a militia army, special rules are applicable for army weapons. Between their regular annual service of two or three weeks per year, Swiss soldiers and officers keep their personal weapons at home. After they have left the army, they may keep those arms in order to continue practicing at rifle or pistol ranges managed by local communities. Special rules also govern hunting or sporting rifles.

3. Firearms and Crime

The use of firearms in crimes in Switzerland is relatively rare. In 1998, official police statistics reported 66 cases in which guns were used in attempted or successful homicides, 64 cases in which they were used to inflict bodily harm and another 475 cases in which firearms were used in armed robberies."

This is cut and pasted from a fact sheet published by the Swiss Embassy in DC.

Swiss soldier bring their weapons home with them! In the US Army, they are looked up in an Arms Rooms. The Military and Defense section of the same site says:

" The Swiss Constitution states that "every Swiss male is obliged to do military service." Every Swiss male has to serve for at least 260 days in the armed forces. For privates and NCOs, excluding senior NCOs, until the end of the year in which they reach the age of 30 or, if they have not yet completed their training by that time, no longer than until the end of the year in which they become 34.

Women are accepted on a voluntary basis but are not drafted. In the event of war, up to 220,000 men and women can be mobilized."

Remember that after discharge, former Swiss soldiers take their firearms with them into civilian life.

My point is not to argue the superiority of the Swiss over the Americans, but to point out that there have to be a helluva lot of guns -- including modern assault weapons -- in Swiss civilian hands. But the Swiss cultural identity wasn't forged by Hollywood and dime novelists into revering firearms as some sort of magical solution to all problems. The US had that happen. I suspect that changing it would go a long, long way to changing the problems the US has, not just with firearms but in a lot of other areas.

Yeah, I have a concealed carry permit.

I have it because it forces me to review safety procedures for the guns I own.

I've never carried concealed; I've never felt the need to do so.