I don't want to get into the politics of gun ownership.
I'm British, I'm not exactly qualified, but I will say that Switzerland has
a very high rate of people who own guns, and a pretty low rate of people
who are hurt by guns.
This is the Brünnlisau shooting range, about two hours from Zürich.
And I think it's the best possible demonstration of the attitude
that Switzerland has to both firearms and firearms safety.
You fire your rifle from there.
The targets are over there.
And in between them is a major highway. And it's safe.
IN SWISS GERMAN:
Rifle shooting is a national sport in Switzerland.
Service in the military is compulsory for men, albeit
these days with the choice to take on civilian public service work instead.
For those who do choose military service, a lot of them decide
to keep their firearm when they finish, which means that yes,
there are a lot of people with guns in Switzerland,
but they pretty much all have thorough training in how to use them.
All right. So I lie down...
- Yes, yes. - All the way down. OK.
- OK. Your target is number seven.
Number seven... I thought this was a magnifier.
It's not a magnifier.
You just have to be very accurate.
Without munition. - Without. Yes.
- You look at the target and push.
[hammer clicks]
- I think I'd have missed there. But... - Yeah?
- OK. All right. Let's try it for real.
If you're shooting a rifle here, you're lying down and you cannot see the road.
Anything you fire that's traveling fast enough
to go over that wall just can't hit the road.
That just isn't a possible trajectory for a bullet that can damage anything
other than the hill and, of course, the targets.
That goes up against my shoulder, here. - In the position, yes.
- And gets held with this hand here. - Mmhm.
- And I just have to line up...
- Look to the target and... push.
- Missed. Gah, I swore the recoil was going to hit me in the eye there.
Closer!
High and right. Okay!
five. I'm going the other way now.
- Hey! - Hey, that's a ten!
This is a ten, yes!
Got there in the end.
Nine. It's good. - I'll take that.
That's, what, 56 out of 100, and I got one in the bullseye.
- Yes. - I'll take that.
Thank you very much.
Danke schön. - You're welcome.
- Now, there is the reasonable question: well, what if someone were to stand up?
Then they could see and hit the road.
Well, again: training, it's unlikely to happen.
And also, breaking the safety rules
when you're surrounded by military-trained firearm enthusiasts is...
not a great plan?
"What if you stand up" is basically the same question as
"what if you decide to point the rifle at someone"?
You will very rapidly not be holding a rifle anymore.
If someone wants to cause harm with a gun, this is not the way they'd do it.
Joining a rifle club, getting all the permits and then deciding
to throw all that away to take a potshot at a car just once?
I'm not sure there's anyone who's sensible enough to do the first bits of that,
and unhinged enough to do the last part.
And if there is, they've never made it here.