Firearm sales increased by almost 50 percent in parts of Switzerland after the terror attacks in Paris last year and Brussels this spring. Additionally, purchases have increased even more after murders—by a machete-wielding Syrian in Germany and a Tunisian who killed at least 84 by hitting them with a truck in France—earlier this month, USA Today reports.
Although Switzerland’s gun ownership rate is exceeded only by the United States and Yemen, violent crime remains low in the country, which has one of the lowest murder rates in the world.
Gun control is also not particularly popular in the country: As USA Today points out, privately owned rifles and semi-automatic long guns are exempt from background-check and permit requirements; military service is required; and military firearms are kept in homes—which historians credit for Germany never invading Switzerland during World War II.
