By Slanted Light

Interesting. I did know about National Service in Switzerland, but I didn't know that it went on so long... It does at least sound fairly organized, and pretty well controlled. I think what worries me over here is exactly that - the lack of control. You can teach as many people as you like how to use a gun, but there are far too many people out there who will use it - on purpose or accidentally - in a manner that will hurt others, and there are no controls on that. No one to police the manner in which guns are stored in a house, in or out of reach of children etc. At least two teenage boys were killed last year, messing with their parent's guns. If the guns hadn't been there in the first place, it couldn't have happened...

We've not had the snow back yet, but at least the temperature has dropped again. Except that my legs were just slightly numbed after walking for an hour to class at -16C!