Top 10 list - Safety and Security (#9)

Anyone who’s spent time here will confirm how safe one generally feels.    People are expected to watch out for themselves to avoid, for instance, getting run over by a tram but when it comes to violent crime one will feel pretty secure regardless of the time of day or section of town.  Switzerland’s low homicide rate places it #6 out of the 36 developed countries ranked by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) while the US sits proudly at #32.   Paradoxically, among this same group of countries Switzerland trails only the US in gun ownership rates.   Does this mean that whereas  Americans use their guns to kill each other the Swiss use them for protection?   Hardly.  Gun rights people  here are as vehemently protective of these rights as their counterparts in the US but you will not hear them supporting their argument with fear.   And they will never, ever say that they need them as protection against their own government.  For many of them, in fact, it’s the government that has provided the gun.  They  just say that they like having and shooting guns.  Nothing wrong with that.  In any event, at the risk of simplification I’ll play the amateur sociologist and opine that Switzerland’s low violent crime rate is ultimately a reflection of a lower feeling of desperation within the population, especially at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.   People are less desperate here and the resulting confidence that they have options makes them less likely to kill another person.  Maybe I’m right and maybe I’m wrong.  But it is safe here and for the peace of mind that this gives me and my family, I’m appreciative.