Since 2001, there has been no mass shooting in Switzerland.
There are about 2 million privately owned guns in the country. There were 47 attempted homicides with firearms in the country. The murder rate in the country is very low.
The National Rifle Association points to Switzerland as a place where more rules on gun ownership are not necessary. The European country had one of the lowest murder rates in the world, according to the National Rifle Association.
There are specific rules and regulations for gun use in the Swiss.
Insider took a look at the country's past with guns to see why it has lower rates of gun violence than the US, where gun death rates are at their highest in more than 20 years, and the leading cause of death for children and adolescents.
Switzerland is obsessed with shooting. It holds a shooting contest every year.
The Knabenschiessen is an annual festival that dates back to the 1600s.
The competition used to be only for boys, but since 1991, teenage girls have been allowed in.
Kids in the country flock to the competition every September to compete in target shooting using Swiss army service rifles. They are proud to show how well they can shoot.
The Schutzenkonig, or king or queen of marksmen, is crowned when accuracy is prized above all else.
The Swiss were neutral for more than 200 years because of armed citizens.
The Swiss stance is armed neutrality.
Switzerland has not taken part in any international armed conflict since 1816.
Gun ownership is seen as a patriotic duty by many Swiss.
Swiss men are required to learn how to shoot a gun.
Switzerland has compulsory military service for men.
All men between the ages of 18 and 34 are given a pistol or a rifle and trained.
After they finish their service, the men can usually buy and keep their service weapons, but they have to get a permit.
The Swiss government has voted to reduce the size of the armed forces.
Switzerland is similar to a well-designed fort.
At least 3,000 demolition points are on bridges, roads, rails, and tunnels around the European country of Switzerland, which is basically designed to blow up on command.
John McPhee wrote about it in his book.
Near the German border of Switzerland, every railroad and highway tunnel has been prepared to blow up. Entire divisions can fit inside the mountains that have been made porous.
Roughly 25% of the gun-toting Swiss use their weapons for military or police duty.
More than 25% of Swiss gun owners kept their weapon for military or police duty in 2000, compared to less than 5% of Americans.
The country has about 2 million privately owned guns, a figure that has plummeted over the past decade.
About half of the guns in the country are former service rifles, according to the Swiss government. There are signs that the Swiss gun-to-human ratio is decreasing.
The Small Arms Survey found that Switzerland had the third-highest ratio of civilian firearms per 100 residents, behind the US and Yemen.
Over the past decade, that figure has dropped. It is thought that there is about one civilian gun for every three Swiss people.
Strict licensing procedures are followed by gun sellers.
Swiss authorities decide whether to give people gun permits. They keep a log of everyone who owns a gun in their region, known as a canton, though hunting rifles and some semiautomatic long arms are exempt from the permit requirement.
Cantonal police don't take their duty lightly. They might talk with authorities in other canton where a prospective gun buyer has lived before to check out the person.
Swiss laws prevent people who are violent or incompetent from owning a gun.
People who have been convicted of a crime or have an alcohol or drug addiction are not allowed to buy guns in Switzerland.
The law states that anyone who expresses a violent or dangerous attitude won't be allowed to own a gun.
Gun owners who want to carry their weapon for defensive purposes have to prove they can load, unload, and shoot their weapon and pass a test to get a license.
Switzerland is one of the richest, healthiest and happiest countries in the world.
Switzerland was ranked sixth in the world.
The Swiss are near the top of the list. When Switzerland was ranked fourth overall, the report authors noted that the country tends to do well on a number of factors, including honesty, health, income and good governance.
Over the past decade in the US, happiness has taken a dive.
The authors of the report cite decreasing social support and increased corruption as well as addiction and depression for the fall.
The Swiss are not perfect when it comes to guns.
Switzerland has one of the highest rates of gun violence in Europe, and most gun deaths in the country are suicides.
Stronger gun laws have been linked to fewer deaths. In Switzerland, that has been the case as well.
After hundreds of years of letting local cantons decide on gun rules, Switzerland passed its first federal regulations on guns in 1999.
Since then, more provisions have been added to keep the country on par with EU gun laws, and gun deaths, including suicides, have continued to decline.
The Swiss estimated that less than 10% of their citizens kept their military-issued gun at home.
In Switzerland, most people are not allowed to carry their guns.
Most people who aren't security workers or police officers don't have a concealed carry permit in Switzerland.
Martin Killias, a professor of criminology at Zurich University, told the BBC that guns are kept at home for peaceful purposes.
That is mostly true. Hunters and sports shooters can only take their guns to the firing range from their home, so they can't just stop for coffee.
It has happened in the US at least twice that guns cannot be loaded during transport to prevent them from accidentally firing in a place like Starbucks.
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