A reader writes:
The reason Switzerland has so many guns is every adult male below retirement is a reservist and, by law, has a fully automatic assault rifle (and none of your AK-47 dreck, these are SIGs, the creme de creme) plus some small but substantial supply of ammo. 46 out of a 100, yep about right for the pre-retirement male population.
Another adds:
At age 20, each Swiss man is required to officially join the armed service, beginning with a seventeen week boot camp-style initiation training.
After that, you are required to report in and participate in a three week training course every year for the next 8 to 10 years. This is followed by a period of years where men are called back every two years for two weeks, until age 40, I believe. From then on you are considered "on call." This of course only applies for non-career soldiers.
The entire time, each member of the military– that is, every man in the country— keeps their military-issued rifle, as well as their uniform, with them at home.
There are efforts going on right now to change that practice.
Living in the United States when I turned 20, I was not required to report back to Switzerland for duty. It is one of the few "outs" from the service requirement.
The Dish 