diego wrote:Does it count if I say that I used to own one???
And also does it count if I say that I'm Swiss and in this country, at least inside 60% of Swiss homes, there's a shotgun???

After succeeding the military service, we keep our personal shotgun at home (with the bullets).

Forgive my frothing ignorance, but is the idea basically that every swiss citizen is a member of a national militia? Isn't there a little training involved?

todd_v wrote:
We have a lot of desert here in AZ and I enjoy target shooting and shooting clay pigeons.

Shooting in the open in Arizona is the bomb. When my grandparents were still alive, I visited them twice a year in Arizona, and got a fair amount of open range desert target practice in on each visit.

Signs out on the road reading "No shooting withing 1/4 mile of inhabited buildings," abandoned cars and metal junk in heaps out in the desert - a plinker's paradise.

rayj wrote:

diego wrote:Does it count if I say that I used to own one???
And also does it count if I say that I'm Swiss and in this country, at least inside 60% of Swiss homes, there's a shotgun???

After succeeding the military service, we keep our personal shotgun at home (with the bullets).

Forgive my frothing ignorance, but is the idea basically that every swiss citizen is a member of a national militia? Isn't there a little training involved?

The military service is compulsory in Switzerland, it lasts 3 months the first year and then every year, we go back 2 or 3 weeks (it depends on the "specialization").
So yes, during those 3 months we are trained to use our shotgun.

The Swiss military service is a big issue over here but since 2004, it is mainly composed by volunteers.
I did my military service, it was a bizarre experience I can tell. Throwing grenades was very scary for me and I was almost sent to jail for 3 days because I was extremely bad at shooting (they thought I was doing it on purpose). After several years, I managed to quit and now I pay a military tax every year instead.
So now, the Swiss Army is more and more composed by volunteers, which is almost a militia.

rayj wrote:Forgive my frothing ignorance, but is the idea basically that every swiss citizen is a member of a national militia? Isn't there a little training involved?

Aren't all citizens of America also supposed to be a part of an 'unorganised militia' or some such? To fight against tyrannies of people who might, you know, steal the government or something ridiculously implausible like that?

Earwicker wrote:

rayj wrote:

Aren't all citizens of America also supposed to be a part of an 'unorganised militia' or some such? To fight against tyrannies of people who might, you know, steal the government or something ridiculously implausible like that?

Oh my no. Steal the government? That could NEVER happen!
Ha ha ha silly brit.

I don't know what happened but I really fucked that last "quote" up.

Chuckb wrote:I don't own a gun for the very same reason I don't own any power saws or a motorcycle.

I've got at least one of each. Guess we're not gonna party.

Don't own any, never have, and don't want them around me, at least not here in the city. I live in a peaceful place whose murder rate is an order of magnitude lower than that of my hometown, and I am grateful to be able to walk home unafraid late at night. I am even more grateful to be able to do this without packing heat or being a tough guy.

Visiting a friend in Vermont and getting in some target practice with his (woefully inaccurate) cheap Brazilian .38 sure was enjoyable, though.

No, I don't own any. I sincerely hope I will never need to.

I've shot guns before, though - I used to do target practice with old .22 Remington bolt-action rifles at my good old tripping camp in the northern woods of Wisconsin. That was awesome. The sights were off, but I still managed to get a bullseye occasionally. It was awesome. I later became a far better archer at a different camp.

I've also done trap shooting with .410 shotguns and 20-gauge shotguns at that same camp - I was actually pretty good at that, if memory serves correctly - and one fine day shot a Garand M1 army rifle at a big stump on a fence when I was...12 or 13. Standing with the thing at shoulder height. The kick was incredible. Didn't hurt, but just...wow. That was power. It really made me think about how dangerous these weapons actually are.

My mom is a rabid anti-gun person. She would very much like it if they were all banned except for military and police use.

Steve V. wrote:I do not own a gun, but a gun in a friend's hands has saved my ass before, so not crap.

I don't own one because I don't have a reason too. And I lived in DeKalb county motherfuckers!

I like dekalb alot I'd like to think if I laid down roots in Atlanta I'd get an old victorian house in Oakhurst or near Agnes Scott. Right now though the only thing I really do in Dekalb is go to that awesome farmer's market.

Oh and no I don't own a gun I'd probably shoot myself on accident.