Easy access to army guns said to increase Swiss suicide rate

All able-bodied Swiss men must do military service and have the option of keeping their army rifle at home. The vast majority do. Keystone / Martin Ruetschi

The suicide rate using a gun is considerably higher among Swiss men than men in other European countries. This is probably down to easier access to firearms linked to military conscription, according to a report in the journal Swiss Medical Weekly.

The report, “Suicide in Switzerland: why gun ownership can be deadlyExternal link”, was written by a researcher from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and is based on studies of gun violence in the US and Europe. It shows that one third (33.6%) of male suicides in Switzerland are caused by firearms, compared with 9.7% in the rest of Europe. This mainly concerns the 20-35 age group.

“The likely reason for this discrepancy is the easy access to guns for Swiss men,” it said. “Whereas such access is severely restricted in most European countries, this is not the case in Switzerland.”

All able-bodied Swiss men must do military service and have the option of keeping their army rifle at home. The vast majority do. After they retire from the army they can hang on to their rifles. However, ammunition may not be taken home; it is stored in central armouries.

The study addressed the question of how people could kill themselves with an army weapon if they had no ammunition.

“Apart from the fact that this ammunition can easily be bought in gun shops, and that soldiers often take ammunition home during their time of service, it seems that at least by November 2009, 60,000 tins of ammunition previously distributed, each containing 50 cartridges, had not been returned,” it said.

The study noted that when the number of conscripts was nearly halved in 2003/4 as a result of the Swiss Army Reform XXI, the number of army-issued firearms was reduced by an estimated 20%.

“An analysis of suicide rates before and after the reform indicated that male (but not female) suicide rates decreased by 8%, with no evidence of substitution with other means of suicide. If the army would require that the remaining half of conscripts had to keep their weapons at their barracks rather than at home, a further decrease in male suicide rates could be expected,” it concluded.