KOSTA:
America loves guns. (screams) Hell, I love guns. But I also hate guns. Another mass shooting
in America. -Another mass shooting.
-Yet another mass shooting. KOSTA:
So I was wondering, what if there was a world where
people could keep their guns and have no mass shootings? Welcome to Switzerland, a neutral country most known for its cobblestone streets
perfect for skipping, its clocks,
sophisticated pocketknives and guns. Turns out peaceful Switzerland is one of the most heavily
armed nations in the world. And, like America,
they love their guns. Yet they have
almost zero gun violence. How the (bleep)
is that possible? Luckily, I ran into an expert. Is that a gun in your pocket
or are you just... Oh, no, that's a gun. Meet Mikko. For 20-plus years
he's been a firearms instructor for law enforcement personnel,
military and special forces. He also happens to be
one hunk of a man. So, Thor, tell me about Swiss gun culture. We respect the guns because
we have a mandatory service. Every man who goes to the army,
they get training and a rifle, um,
in case of invasion. KOSTA: Which, to be fair,
is a real threat, since the last time
Switzerland was invaded was in 1798
before color was invented, so of course
they have a militia. The culture
is a little bit different comparing to some other country. You're familiar
that I'm American, right? You can just say these things
to my face. You don't have to say
"other countries." I think the gun culture
in America is getting out of hand.
It is a joke. There should be
common-sense gun laws. Common sense.
That's not our strength. Yeah, I've noticed that. Yeah, well, I can say that, -but I don't like it
when you say that. -Okay. KOSTA:
But what we do have is that good old American
gun freedom. God! You know how easy it is
to get a gun in the U.S.? I just go to Walmart,
give them the money, gun. -I know. It's crazy.
-My Uncle Paul, out of his truck,
he's got a bunch of guns. My brother Todd has a gun. You want to use it? Boom,
borrow it for the weekend. -That's nice.
-Not really. In Switzerland,
you can get a gun from your grandparents
or from your father, but you still have to do
the paperwork. Even if I get a gun
from my grandpa, -I still got to tell the cops
about it? -Yeah. KOSTA:
That's crazy, because in most states
in America, you can buy a gun
almost immediately without any background check. But not in Switzerland. You apply the permit
from the police. You provide clearance
of your criminal record, that you don't have
any convictions. -Wait for two weeks.
-What if it's a small crime? What if you got caught urinating
in public? You got caught for sleeping
with your cousin 'cause you didn't know
it was a cousin 'cause it was
at your family reunion and she looked like she worked
at catering? -I mean... -What if it's, like,
assaulting a police officer, but really you were
just tickling him? If you can't be responsible
of following some other simple rules
in society, to behave, why should you have a gun? You don't need to raise
your voice over this. Was there even a payoff
to all these rules? -How many school shootings
have there been? -None. -What about malls? Are there
many people sh... -None. What about, like,
major holidays? -People get shot up at
major holidays here? -Nothing. KOSTA:
Come on. With all those guns, they had to have at least one
mass shooting somewhere. After weeks of research, I discovered there was,
in fact, one mass shooting in the Swiss Parliament
in 2001. But they haven't
had one since?! C'est incroyable. You had a mass shooting
17 years ago. We have one every 17 minutes. This is something that I'm having a hard time
comprehending. You learned from a mistake, and you made an improvement
in the law. That's so Europe. And while Switzerland's
last mass shooting was in 2001, America has had...
No, keep going. No, more. More. Yeah, there you go. Over 1,900 mass shootings
since 2012, averaging to about one a day. Which is why Mikko felt
I needed to be properly trained before I headed back
to the States. We have the talk
about safety first. Can I, like, like...
with this one? -Yeah, just leave it alone.
Don't-don't touch it. -Don't... How are we gonna shoot it
if I can't touch it? Well ,let me explain you
the rules first. So, number one thing
that you have to remember is that you always treat
the guns as if they're loaded, because probably most
of the accidents that happens happens with "empty" guns. -All right, so this one here,
this... -Don't touch it. Don't touch it. I think you don't pay enough,
you know, attention -to what I'm saying.
-Okay. I'm listening. So, you just have to follow
four simple rules. Number one: you treat the guns
always as they're loaded. (distorted): Number two:
you never point anything... Number four... I got a feeling that
you're not paying attention. What? No, I am. Let's do it. Let's blow some shit up. Mikko,
when you load these things, you ever get a little bit
of a... (whistles) ...erection? -Do exactly what I say, okay?
-Okay. -All right, pay attention.
-Pay attention Okay, and slowly press back
until the gun goes off. Jesus! This scares the shit out of me. I'm glad we had
that safety instruction. This is the dream. Shooting guns without the fear
of getting shot? This is where
America should be. All we need to do
is keep ammo separate and have universal criminal
and mental background checks, have extremely strict
open carry laws, justification for ownership, send written requests
to authorities, and...
(sighs) basically just change
our entire gun culture. We can do that, right? It's not really that fun
when you keep shitting yourself. You'll get used to it.
Mirrors for outside the US -
Part 1: https://streamable.com/7reyp Part 2: https://streamable.com/t021q
am i being preached gun safety by a guy who zones out on gun safety lessons?
This is comparing apples to oranges. Switzerland does not have the poverty, crime, or mental health issues that the United States has. All of these lead to more violence.
Looking at their gun control laws and saying that's why they don't have any violence is foolish. They don't have any of the problems that we have in the US.
We should look at why they don't have poverty and mental health issues if we want to solve our violence problem.
The part where he zones out as the guy is explaining basic firearm principles pisses me off, if you know anything about American and Swiss gun laws you'll understand that this is a misleading video produced for political purposes. The Swiss actually have more firearm freedom in some regards: https://youtu.be/UOErri-3Z5E?t=550 , the main issue is culture, the Swiss don't have the gang culture.
Wow, I didn't expect the Daily Show to be so blatantly dishonest. I get that it's supposed to be comedy but I sincerely doubt the audience understands how false some of those statements are.
IMO the biggest factor is that American culture glorifies aggressiveness and lack of self-restraint, whereas Swiss culture does the opposite.
I hate to be that guy, but I’m going to be that guy. I’m not really a gun advocate, I don’t own my own gun, but I’ve been around people with guns. Both grandfathers of mine are hunters and my father owns a gun and shoots casually at ranges. I’ve been to hunting grounds, gun ranges and events similar to what was shown in the Daily Show segment and the culture and respect in those places is very similar to that of those in the states.
The implication that most American gun owners don’t respect the power of a firearm and don’t follow safety procedures is misleading.
That’s not to say there isn’t a problem, but this video focuses on the wrong aspects of that problem. The size of the US by comparison, gang related issues that both amplifies illegal firearm use and the sort of skewed “Mass Shooting” number, the glorification of guns in pop culture(music videos, television and film) that’s hard to shake off and yes loose regulations.
Tighter regulations wouldn’t all of a sudden turn us into Switzerland’s way of life. It would help yes, but we aren’t that different from them.
These late night shows are so bad now. I was always so stoked to see them at one point. This segment is incredibly misleading. Although glad I didn't have to listen to trevor I'm very put off by how pretentious and pompous trevor noah comes off.