Swiss Defense Minister Defends Keeping Guns in People's Homes

The Defense Minister's argument eems like a sensible one to me.

Schmid rejected calls for the weapons to be kept in military storage to reduce Switzerland's high rate of suicide by firearms.

In an interview in Saturday's Tages-Anzeiger newspaper of Zurich, Schmid said storing soldiers' rifles away from their homes "would not solve the underlying social problem" of suicide.

"The army is not responsible for the problems in our society," he commented.

"A person who wants to kill himself or others will always find a way."

Schmid argued that Switzerland's militia army needed to be able to mobilize rapidly, "for example to protect airports and railway stations quickly". . . .

Thanks very much to Rich for sending this to me.