Their Cheese Has Holes but Their Gun Policy Doesn’t: a Review of the Swiss Gun Policy Compared to the United States

Authors

Nikolaos Manuel Hernandez

Abstract

“With the right to bear arms come a great responsibility to use caution and common sense on handgun purchases.” – Ronald Reagan

The left will say we need more gun control, the right will say it is our constitutional right to bear arms. Is one truly better than the other? Does the answer lie simply in gun education? This note will scrutinize the history of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution as it relates to gun rights, gun laws, and gun violence. Next, this note will compare those rights, laws, and statistics to that of Switzerland. Switzerland’s gun policy and laws are extremely liberal due to their mandatory requirement of training young men in the handling of guns. As a result, there is little to no gun violence in Switzerland. This note will compare key differences between the two countries who have two very different styles of government all while attempting to find a middle ground where policy, law, and innovation. However, this note will only address what could happen if the United States decided to adopt the Swiss policy.

Recommended Citation

Nikolaos Manuel Hernandez, Their Cheese Has Holes but Their Gun Policy Doesn’t: a Review of the Swiss Gun Policy Compared to the United States, 27 U. MIA Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 155 (2020)
Available at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/umiclr/vol27/iss1/6