The Swiss Shooting Sports Association runs about 3,000 clubs and has 150,000 members, including a youth section.
“Social conditions are fundamental in deterring crime,” says Peter Squires, professor of criminology and public policy at the University of Brighton
http://world.time.com/2012/12/20/the-swiss-difference-a-gun-culture-that-works/
Switzerland has an entrenched gun culture that is embraced by most of its 8 million citizens, some of them as young as 10 years old. Every Swiss community has a shooting range, and depending on who is counting, the alpine country ranks third or fourth in the number of guns per capita.
“You can walk into a cafe in a town where there is a shooting festival and you’ll see rifles hanging on the hat rack. It’s just incredible. It’s just proliferation all over the place, but it’s all for a peaceful purpose,” says Stephen Halbrook, a Virginia-based lawyer who has argued cases for the National Rifle Association.
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/19/174758723/facing-switzerland-gun-culture/
The Swiss take their shooting very seriously. They have a long history of marksmanship, and rifle ranges dot the country side.
It should be noted that group size is largely irrelevant in Switzerland, rather, it’s the shooter’s score that determine the accuracy of the shooter/firearm combination.
http://www.swissrifles.com/shooting/
John Tate
May 08, 2014 @ 08:16:20
ref the comment: “rifle ranges dot the country side.” I was recently in Switzerland. On a train ride between Zurich and Germany, while still in Switzerland, in a lovely green field adjacent to the tracks was a 4-position rifle range. I’d guess it was 100 meters long. The target number boards looked well kept.
In a related vein, all over rural Switzerland and Germany, at the edge of almost every field, was at least one elevated “deer stand.” A local said they were used for bird, pig and deer hunting.
FYI – in those travels, I saw NO golf courses.
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John M. Buol Jr.
May 08, 2014 @ 08:20:28
It would seem the Swiss enjoy of culture of marksmanship, not just gun ownership.
Maybe if American gun owners followed suit we’d have more ranges, especially with Sius-Ascor systems, and less golf courses.
https://firearmusernetwork.com/2013/04/07/golfers-vs-gun-owners/
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David B. Monier-Williams
May 10, 2014 @ 14:57:56
John, I agree more should participate, but those Sius-Ascor systems aren’t for those with long pockets and short arms.
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John M. Buol Jr.
May 11, 2014 @ 11:01:38
Yet Swiss shooters, which are greatly outnumbered by American shooter, have them available at hundreds of ranges.
Such affordability issues are greatly reduced by economies of scale. America has tens of millions of gun owners but only a tiny percentage are actually firearm users – active, practicing marksmen – and these systems have little appeal or use to plinkers.
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