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Urs Flueeler / EPA
Police can be seen at the site of a Wednesday shooting in Menznau, Switzerland. Three people, including the gunman, died in a shooting at factory during a morning break in the cafeteria, a witness told local newspaper Neue Luzerner Zeitung.
Three people, including the suspected assailant, have been killed in a shooting at a factory near the Swiss city of Lucerne, police said on Wednesday.
Seven others were injured in the attack, which happened just after 9 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET) at a wood-processing company in the town of Menznau, west of Lucerne, the police said in a statement.
Urs Flueeler / EPA
The motive for a Wednesday morning factory shooting in Switzerland was not immediately clear, police said.
Emergency services were at the scene and the area had been cordoned off. A news conference had been scheduled for the afternoon.
Last month, a gunman killed three women and injured two men in the Swiss village of Daillon, stirring a debate about Switzerland's firearm laws, which allow men to keep guns after their mandatory military service.
There is no national gun register, but some estimates indicate that at least one in every three of Switzerland's 8 million inhabitants keeps a gun, many stored at home. Citizens outside the military who are 18 and over can apply for a permit to purchase up to three weapons. Sharpshooting and hunting are popular sports here.
A shooting in the Zug regional parliament in 2001, in which 14 people were killed, prompted calls to tighten laws, but the majority of Swiss citizens rejected a proposal in 2011 for extra measures such as mandatory locked storage of guns not in use.
Related:
Three women killed after gunman's drunken rampage in Swiss village
This story was originally published on Wed Feb 27, 2013 6:41 AM EST
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
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There are three (3) dead- including the shooter and seven (7) very seriously injured/wounded othere workers at the KronoSwiss wood processing plant. The shooter walked into cafeteria opening fire. The wounded have been flown by Swiss Air Rescue (REGA) helicopters to 2 area hospitals. This happened in the city of Menznau, Kanton Lucerne,Switzerland. The fiirm employes 410 people but on February 23, the management informed the workers that there would be 'downtime/downsizing' due to timber shortage. For accurate info- as events unfold- go to http://www.29min.ch/schweiz/centralschweiz/story/Drei-Tote-and-Sieben-Verletzte-bei-Amoklauf-17567929 or local http://www.luzernerzeitung.ch/nachrichten/zentralschweiz/luzern/Amoklauf-in-Menznau-3-Tote-7-Schwerverletzte;art92,242121
I would be interested in learning more about this shooting. Switzerland has some very interesting foreign labor rules that would be a great model for the US. Foreign workers are issued one year renewable work visas. If unemployment is low they renew the foreigner's visa for another year. If unemployment is high they don't renew it and the foreigner must leave the country. This opens up jobs for unemployed Swiss citizens. I'm curious to know if the shooter was a foreigner or Swiss citizen. Also, did he/she take his own life or was he shot by a bystander or policeman?
Shooter Victor B - 42 yrs old was a machine operator for Kronospan 17 yrs-autopsy will determine whether he shot himself dead or was shot dead. One of the victims was Christine N- mother of 2 employed as a caretaker who lived in the same house as Victor B directly above. Victor B was the father of 23 daughters and 1 son- he had family problems and his family moved away. The other victim was 26 yr old Benno Studer- a ring oscillator. Victor B. used a handgun. Everybody is in shock- and not only condolences to Christine N's and Benno Studer's families but speedy recovery for those wounded. Victor B. was 'talking to himself' as if talking to unseen people. Mental health issues seem to be the root cause after family break-up and a neighbor above in the same house.
There is no national gun register but some estimates indicate that at least one in every three of Switzerland's 8 million inhabitants keeps a gun, many stored at home. My Prayers go out to the families of these people. Still one out of every three own guns out of 8 million? Even with these shootings that's still a low percentage considering all those guns. It's the few bad that make it bad for the good.
Actually, every adult in Switzerland is required to keep at least one gun in their home.
That's true. Because they are actually supposed to form a citizen militia in times of conflict.
That makes sense as opposed to ignoring half of the 2nd Amendment as we do here in the States. But of course we have the National Guard for such contigencies, and a massive standing army.
Switzerland ranks third in gun ownership per 100 residents, below the United States and Yemen. The margin of error could put it's ranking anywhere between 2nd and 16th in the world. With 45.7 guns per 100 people, it's no wonder there have been two mass shootings in Switzerland in the past year.
It isn't that everyone is required to own a gun, but without a standing army Switzerland relies on its citizen militia, to whom it issues weapons which are kept in the home. Switzerland does, however, prohibit gun sales to those who are not 'psychiatrically fit'.
The regurgitation of the United Nations "United Nations Small Arms Treaty" is about to occur.
Yep, if countries cannot control "gun violence" (which is not true, it is the MENTALLY UNSTABLE PEOPLE who kill other people), then the countries will be REGULATED.
Sounds a lot like the Progressive agenda.....if you cannot control them, regulate them.
Actually the law was that every MALE adult in Switzerland was required to keep a gun. The policy was changed in 2007 when the Swiss government decided to no longer supply ammunition to these guns and, in fact required all ammunition in private hands to be returned. By 2011 97% of the ammunition had been returned. Ammunition sales in Switzerland are regulated. As for the "use of a gun to solve all life's problems" approach... they are probably learning that from the US.
Mountainlady, because of the number of firearms in Switzerland, they have the second highest gun homicide in the G12, after us. But, as you point out there are strict ammunition controls in Switzerland, so that rate is about 1/3 of ours; and, their "mass murders" run in single digits.
Yep, can't wait for the gun nuts in the US to talk about this HUGE story! Please, the stats are not even comparable, and yes, it's still a tragedy regardless.
Of course it's a tragedy. But what kind of person uses a tragedy, especially one involving totally innocent children, to infringe upon people's human right to self defense? The Swiss people are against any such measures in the face of the tragedies they've experienced.
So what is your point? It will be the anti-gun nuts who will make this a HUGE giganticus super duper grab the guns news story.
OK, lets talk. The gun didnt do it. The perpetrator did. Be mad at them, not the gun. OK? Good.
Right Anton and toasters don't make toast, people make toast.
@hs321 it is hardly "using" a tragedy to talk about a sensible response that attempts to prevent it from ever happening again. People who cannot see past their own self-interest are the only ones who even begin to believe that talking about the causes of a tragedy is nothing more than a political ploy.
The only good thing that will come out of this horrible tragedy is that the Swiss, unlike us, do care about each other and are much more rational when it comes to legislative issues. Look for some lightning fast, life saving strict gun control measures to materialize.
There, unlike in the US, the NRA has not flat out purchased all legislative houses, making any gun control nearly impossible. I am all for a homeowner to be able to own a single six shot revolver for home protection, but we have arrived to ridiculous levels where individuals feel they have the right to individually own dozens of machine guns, millions of rounds and even some go as far as forming their own little armies and call them militias, hunting down ethnic minorities in border regions. Enough is enough, people.
Actually, I really do not care how many people are killed by assailants with guns, in the US or around the world. The Military Industrial Complex makes excellent profits, especially right after a mass killing, as the one that just occurred in Switzerland. If governments worldwide try to eliminate guns, how will people of the world fight their wars? Wars create profits for gun manufacturers, and profits make stock values rise. All-in-all, death by gun is a big business worldwide.
@MS in NM: both sides are pushing their agendas in the name of self-interest. If you're not able to understand that then you may be too close to the matter at hand. It might be a good idea to step back for a moment, reassess things, and go from there.
@Jay-2150677: We should expect "...lightning fast, life saving strict gun control measures..." from the Swiss? The Zug incident happened in 2001, proposals were brought up in 2011 and defeated by the electorate. Ten years is fast?
The gun-homicide stats between Switzerland and the US are actually quite comparable, if you look at only the white population of the US.
@Peter - Since when is trying to prevent another tragedy a form of self-interest? If caring about the safety of kindergartners makes me self-interested then sign me up.
It is a mistake in perception that gun fetishists have that sees people who want to restrict gun ownership as having the same but opposite view. I do not by any stretch have any obsession or fetish around restricting gun ownership, I have no “agenda” about “gun-grabbing” that I focus on and get emotionally twisted up about. Gun fetishists on the other hand most certainly do have an obsession, frequently an unhealthy one, with their guns. If the guns were guaranteed to never leave the gun owners house, or be used on innocent people, then I wouldn’t care if the gun fetishist wallpapered their place in M-16’s. But the fact is that some people’s gun ownership has a very real and very negative impact on the rest of society on a REGULAR BASIS. This completely justifies the conversation.
Another noteworthy observation is the fact that not all gun owners are gun fetishists, but these are about the only gun owners who are capable of having a rational conversation about gun control, because they don’t have an unhealthy obsession tied up in their gun ownership.
And finally I will point out that I have not actually advocated for any specific gun control policy, merely that the conversation about it is fully justified. And yet my mere suggestion that there is reason to have a conversation about it has encouraged you to suggest that I am “too close to the matter at hand” to discuss it reasonably. My response to that is that I would suggest to you that your comment is purely a projection.
In the USA there should be a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines. School shootings will not be forgotten.
No, there should not. Thanks for your concern though.
Still trolling away, eh Tacky? Your relentless pursuit of boredom is working.
The Swiss would feel much better about this incident if that happened takenaka?
Good one Anton.
Never going to happen.
takenada STFU
How about we ban gun free zones instead.
I don't believe assault weapons are a huge problem that they are made out to be. Hand guns kill more than any weapon. 3000 murders in the US last year from handguns vs. 300 from all combined rifles. handguns are more concealable in public situations rifles are not. Gangs use handguns with clips of 10-15 rounds ea.
In countries with a more even wealth distribution there is far less crime. It is a fact. In the countries where the government has taken away the guns, the crime rates have more than doubled. The criminals still have weapons.
Of all the industrially developed nations, Switzerland ranks 2nd in the rate of gun related deaths / 100K population. The U.S. at 4.3 gun deaths/100K is number one in the same group. This still means that an American is 20 times more likely to die by gun violence than the average of all other developed nations. As a comparison, the UK has 0.25 gun deaths / 100K of population.
The Swiss do have a national military service requirement. This does imply that they may be better trained on firearm use and safety overall than he U.S. wich, has relatively low formal training rates.
Actually, the Swiss death by gun violence is rare and in in 2009, the most recent year for such statistics was 0.3 per 100,000.
Jev343
You are correct.
For example, in 2011, the total number of gun-related deaths was 8,583.
Taken by itself, out of context, that number seems overwhelming. But taken in the context of overall deaths in America from--including natural causes--that number represents only .34 percent of all
deaths for that year.
In other words, the percentage of deaths that were gun-related in 2011 does not even equal half of one percent of the 2,513,171 overall deaths for that year.
And if you really want to see how exaggerated the current anti-"assault rifle" rhetoric is, just look at 2011 numbers for the percentage of rifle-related deaths. That figure is .012 percent of the overall deaths in America in 2011.
Meanwhile, the percentage of overall deaths that were the result of falling off things like rocks and ladders was 1 percent, or nearly three times the percentage of deaths that were gun-related: 26,631 versus 8,583.
Gun-related deaths represented only .34 percent of all deaths in America 2011. If the left wants us to feel safer, maybe they need to start banning ladders instead of guns.
I hope La Pierre goes to help the Swiss set up their own NRA!
Another parrot trained to repeat a talking point on cue...
I'm sure they don't need outside help. You, on the other hand, do.
Absolutely! Only one gun for every three people? Ridiculous. The NRA can help them get three guns for every Swiss citizen. The American gun industry probably will have La Pierre on a plane this afternoon.
What was that argument again? About Swiss society being so safe because they all have guns?
The people with the guns were safe...it was the unarmed people that got shot...
Why didn't the people with guns save the ones without? Total crap!
Yes, one shooting makes Switzerland unsafe. Switzerland has less than 200 homicides a year in a country with 8 million people, find one big city in the US with less. Find one other European country with less. Switzerland has the lowest violent crime rates in the world. So yes, they are all safe.
Right on Moose. Switzerland has a very low crime rate in comparison to other industrialized nations. But, if the media reports every homicide that occurs in Switzerland in a year, I'm sure they can influence the sheeple to think otherwise.
Yeah, it's a real bloodbath in Switzerland. Better to live in one of those progressive safe havens like Chicago.
Looks like the Swiss are going berserk these days, really . . .
Really! :-o
This is an isolated event a few thousand miles away in a little town. What is it supposed to mean to people in the United States?
Just another excuse for an attempted sensational article to support disarming law-abiding people here so as to make us easy prey for the gangs who won't be disarmed.
like Australia we hear the crime rate went down but go to the Australian news and its the opposite.
morons with guns.
no national registration, brilliant!
way to go Swiss, helping to lower the bar on stupid.
Yes, the Swiss are stupid. Despite being one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and having the lowest violent crime rates, they are total morons because one guy shot some people. Please compare the gun deaths in Switzerland, a country where everyone has guns, to the UK, where nobody is supposed to have a gun, and then get back to me.
no national registration, brilliant! If indeed the Swiss allow their soldiers keep their weapons after their service then I do think the weapons are registered.
Registration = confiscation ... It did in Bolshevik Russia, it did in Nazi Germany and it did in Red China, stupid.
Quarant, yeah, my county did that with cars. If it had a license plate, they took it. Oh, wait, they didn't.
The Swiss have just as big a percentage of armed citizens as the US. Why do they have a much lower rate of violent crime? Taxes are higher, jobs are just as scarce, prices are higher, government is just as if not more intrusive, what gives? Could it be some thing that has more to do with the culture and less to do with the guns? Blame the guns all you want, no gun has ever loaded it self or walked it self out on the street and started shooting people. As always, it comes back to the person behind the gun. Let's work on the people problem, then the gun becomes irrelevant.
The swiss are more stable mentally, their population is lower and the job to citizen ratio works since most have jobs. If you could over populate their country it would be just as bad as here but they keep tight control of their immagration.
A lot of countries like to charge higher taxes and provide more services, like mental health care. We outspend most of the rest of the world put together on a military, and wonder why the people on the streets seem crazy. But of course still well-armed.
Swiss soldiers are allowed to keep their guns after conscription. Most choose to do so...and to store them in the local armory, not in their homes. Look it up.
From my experience this could not be further from the truth. Most of them choose to keep their battle rifle in the armory, but keep their issued Sig pistol in their homes.
So when a nut with an axe runs wild and kills people not known to him.Bingo ban every one from owning an axe.
You know they've all got those little knives, the ones with a corkscrew?
Here we go.
Another gun story.
How many people will die today from medical errors, second hand smoke, drunk driving accidents, having holes poked in them by pointy objects, drug abuse, etc etc ad nauseum. Still good old MSNBC will keep shilling for the left and posting these stories at the rate of two or three a day.
These incidents are different as the shooters made a conscious decision to wreak havoc at theaters, work places, schools, universities, etc. While the other occurrence you outlined can result in fatalities, they are either through accidents (car accidents, medical errors) or self inflicted maladies, such as drug abuse. The intents are polar opposites.
They made a decision but I doubt it was a conscious one. People who do those things have no conscious and need to be stopped before they carry out their decisions in the first place.
With a total lack of a single gun in the country the headline would still probably read about the same regardless.
3 dead, 7 injured in Swiss factory
shootingstabbing.Even if knives were outlawed in Switzerland, people there have such bad b.o. that all they would need to do is stand downwind and raise their arms, and bacteria would finish off the job.
Crazy that you think of all of the shootings happening normally in the US... Shocking in Switzerland, seeming to be much safer than the US.
Yes it's a tired argument about guns.Keep harping about them , and I will keep defending them. Sooner or later you will come to rhe realization that it's not about the guns it's about the rights to keep and use them. Once that right is removed, all our other rights will fall away.....
This is the direction the NRA dreams of - except, they want a gun for every human being in America. They want to do away with law enforcement altogether. Let everyone shoot themselves into oblivion. The Swiss have more class period, even when it comes to weaponry. These shootings pale in comparison with school, theater and the kind of mass shootings we have become world-reknown for. They prove that death by gun fire can still be rare in a country with so many guns. That will NEVER be the case here.
Fortunately, this sh!t never happens in a country where everyone is packing. Learn the lesson Switzerland!
Switzerland has more privately owned firearms than you realize and allows open-carry.
No doubt, i am so sick of people complaining about gun control.. guess what, guns are in this world now and they are not going anywhere, the government can not control who gets ahold of a gun ( Chicago a prime example) what we should be focusing on is mental health care in this country. but to continue this fight about outlawing guns or not is just asinine... leave it alone already.
The pandemic of shooting with deadly firearms has spread across the Atlantic to Switzerland.
Another US cultural export?
Blame "Big Pharma" and their "medications" - blaming rifles is sheer childish over-simplification/stupidity.
People murder people everywhere and have from pretty much day one. No one has a monopoly on murder.
This is what we are looking at in the great state of alabama. The new law in our state is for everyone to be able to have their gun in their car at their place of work. So we will be killing people on our lunch hour, no doubt. This expedites the act. You won't have to go home and get your gun and maybe cool off. You can just go to your car and come back in and kill as many as you can. you go alabamer.
Blame "personality-altering" "medications".
Barbydoll, if us legal gun owners were as trigger happy as you are suggesting, liberals would have become extinct generations ago. I guess with a handle like Barbydoll, critical thinking is not one of your innate talents.
It would be very very interesting to say the least to see if the shooter was on "personality-altering" "medications" like in the other gun rampages ... but I am soooo sure it is the guns to blame, not someones 'pickled' and 'altered state', curtesy of big (greedy) pharma.
Guns don't kill people - drug addled psychos do.
OK - I'll bite - what is the actual science on that and not hysterical internet paranoia? I'm serious - not that I don't hate big pharma as much as anyone, but really, has anyone established a connection b/w the drugs and the explosive violence?