- [Kosta] America loves guns.
(guns firing) - Ah!
Hell I love guns, but I also hate guns.
- Another mass shooting in America.
- Another mass shooting.
- Yet another mass shooting.
- So, I was wondering what if there was a world
where people could keep their guns
and have no mass shootings?
(alphorn bugling)
Welcome to Switzerland, a neutral country
most known for its cobblestone streets,
perfect for skipping its clocks,
sophisticated pocket knives, and guns.
(upbeat music)
Turns out peaceful Switzerland
is one of the most heavily armed nations
in the world and like America, they love their guns.
Yet they have almost zero gun violence.
How the (beep) is that possible?
Luckily, I ran into an expert.
Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just?
- Oh, that's a gun.
- Meet Mikko, for 20 plus years
he's been a firearms instructor
for law enforcement personnel, military and special forces.
He also happens to be one hunk of a man.
So Thor, tell me about Swiss gun culture.
- We respect the guns because we have a mandatory service.
Every man that goes to the Army,
they get training in the rifle in case of invasion.
- [Trevor] Which to be fair is a real threat.
Since the last time Switzerland was invaded
was in 1798, before color was invented.
So, of course they have a militia.
- The culture is a little bit different comparing
to some other country.
- You're familiar that I'm American, right?
- Yeah. - You can just say
these things to my face.
You don't have to say other countries.
- I think the gun culture in America
is getting out of hand, it is a joke.
There should be common sense gun laws.
- Common sense.
That's not our strength.
- Yeah, I noticed that. (audience laughing)
- Yeah, well I can say that, but I don't like it
when you say that.
- Okay.
- But what we do have is that good old American gun freedom.
(gun firing)
You know how easy it is to get a gun in the U.S.?
I just go to Walmart, give him the money, gun.
- I know.
- My uncle Paul. - It's crazy.
- Out of his truck, he's got a bunch a guns.
My brother, Todd, has a gun.
You wanna use it, boom, borrow it for the weekend.
That's nice.
- Not really.
In Switzerland you can get a gun from your grandparents
or from your father, but you still have to do the paperwork.
- Even if I get a gun from my grandpa,
I still gotta tell the cops about it?
- Yeah. - That's crazy.
Because in most states in America you can buy
a gun almost immediately without any background check,
but not in Switzerland.
- You apply the permit from the police.
You provide clearance of your criminal record
that you don't have any convictions.
Wait for two weeks.
- What if it's a small crime?
What if you got caught urinating in public?
You got caught for sleeping with your cousin
'cause you didn't know it was a cousin
'cause it was at your family reunion
and she looked like she worked at catering.
What if it's like assaulting a police officer,
but really you were just tickling 'em?
- If you can't be responsible
of following some other simple rules in society to behave,
why should you have a gun?
- You don't need to raise your voice over this.
Was there even a payoff to all these rules?
How many school shootings have there been?
- None.
- What about malls?
Have there been many people shot?
- No.
- What about like major holidays?
People get shot up at major holidays here?
Probably. - Nothing.
- Come on, with all those guns?
They had to have at least one mass shooting somewhere.
After weeks of research, I discovered there was
in fact one mass shooting in the Swiss Parliament in 2001.
But they haven't had one since?
(speaking foreign language)
You had a mass shooting 17 years ago,
we have one every 17 minutes.
(speaking foreign language)
- This is something that I'm having
a hard time comprehending.
You learned from a mistake
and you made an improvement in the law.
That's so Europe. (audience laughing)
And while Switzerland's last mass shooting was in 2001,
America has had, no, keep going, no, more.
More, yeah, there you go.
Over 1,900 mass shootings since 2012,
averaging to about one a day
which is why Mikko felt I needed to be properly trained
before I headed back to the states.
- We have to talk about safety first.
- Can I like, like with this one?
- [Mikko] Yeah, just leave it alone.
Don't touch it.
- How are we gonna shoot it, if I can't touch it?
- Let me explain you the rules first.
So, number one thing that you have to remember
is that you always treat the guns as if they're loaded
because probably most of the accidents that happens,
happens with empty guns.
- All right, so this one here.
- Don't touch it.
Don't touch it.
I think you don't pay enough, you know,
attention to what I'm saying.
- Okay, I'm listening.
- So, you just have to follow four simple rules.
Number one, you treat the guns always
as if they're loaded. (gun firing)
Number two, never point at anything
that you're not willing to shoot.
Number four, I got a feeling
that you're not paying attention.
- What?
No, I am.
Let's do it.
Let's blow some shit up.
Mikka, when you load these things
you ever get a little bit of a erection?
- Do exactly what I say, okay?
- Okay.
- All right, pay attention. - Pay attention.
- Okay and slowly press back until the gun goes off.
(gun firing) - Jesus.
This scares the shit outta me.
I'm glad we had that safety instruction.
This is the dream, shooting guns
without the fear of getting shot.
This is where America should be.
All we need to do is keep ammo separate
and have universal criminal
and mental background checks,
have extremely strict open carry laws,
justification for ownership,
send written requests to authorities,
and basically just change our entire gun culture.
We can do that, right?
It's not really that fun when you keep shitting yourself.
- You get used to it.
- No, this isn't a green screen.
This is real disgusting Switzerland,
the neutral country full
of non-combative chocolate eating yodelers
and they're also full of guns.
In my previous report,
I trained with firearms expert, Mikko.
Mikko, look, I shot some holes in the Swiss cheese.
You get?
I put the...
(audience laughing)
I learned that when it comes to gun culture,
Switzerland has a few more regulations than America.
And thanks to these gun regulations
and strict ammunition control,
Switzerland has a murder rate of nearly zero.
Sure, that's a great statistic,
but how safe can it really be?
To learn more about their gun culture,
I attended Eidgenossiches Feldschiessen,
the world's largest annual shooting festival,
right here and holy (beep) that's a lot of guns.
(intense music)
Even that baby has a gun.
There's not enough training
in the world to prepare me for this,
so I brought my two secret weapons.
My translator, Pierre,
and my super manly, rock hard American vest.
- Why are you wearing a pussy vest?
- What did he say, Pierre?
- Pussy vest.
- Ah, that's funny.
Pussy vest. - Okay.
Why aren't you wearing a pussy vest?
People are walking around with guns.
- Because it's safe.
(guns firing) - Oh my God.
What is that, what is that, holy?
Oh my goodness.
- They're shooting, no worries.
- They're shooting.
- They are shooting over there, not here.
- How many accidents have happened here?
- Nein. - Nine accidents?
- No. - Nine accidents?
- No, no, no. (audience laughing)
Zero accidents. - Zero.
- Zero.
Zero.
- I thought you said nine.
- Nein.
- Okay. - It's German language.
- It's a German language.
- I know in the Uniteds American this is dangerous,
but in the Switzerland we have (speaking foreign language).
- Tradicion.
- We have rules and this (chicken squawking).
We have rules.
- Rules?
What kind of rules let little kids participate
in this Glocktoberfest?
Do you love shooting?
- Oh yes. - Why?
(speaking foreign language)
- So, it's like yoga?
- Yes.
- They also throw booze into the mix
because (speaking foreign language).
- It's a national party.
- Oh, here comes the beer everybody.
Let's let the beer walk through.
We've got rifles and then beers.
- We come in here, the peoples with the friends and
♪ La la la la ♪
The beer.
♪ La la ♪
♪ La la la la la beer ♪
- After the cluck, we make the ch ch ch ch.
- Yeah? - And it's finish.
- [Trevor] Well said.
Guns and beers.
This was an American wet dream.
But something was different in this country.
- We respect arms.
And if we respect it, it's not a problem.
- [Trevor] Why should I listen to this drunk Swiss roll?
- I was president for five years.
- You're telling me I'm having beer
with the former president of Switzerland?
- Yes. - Cheers.
Nowhere else could a former president be surrounded
by thousands of firearms with no security.
How could we get America to feel this safe?
- That's your problem? - That's my problem.
(audience laughing)
Well, that's as neutral as it gets, but he's right.
It is our problem.
I mean, here they can shoot guns, drink beer,
and no one gets hurt.
In America something like this could never happen.
(gun firing) (audience gasping)
I decided to embrace this culture and hang
with the only group that would let me in.
Wow, yeah.
You guys got AR15s here, huh?
Meet the shooting society of Prez.
It was time to show these Swiss fondues
how Americans shoot guns.
I missed? - You missed, yeah.
How did I miss?
(speaking foreign language)
- What?
(speaking foreign language)
He said?
- What do you know, you're 10 years old.
(speaking foreign language)
You've probably never even kissed a girl.
You ever take your gun to school?
- No. - No?
- We don't are American.
- You're not American. - No.
- Okay, well I can say that, but he can't.
These (beep) Swiss kids, huh?
Even if it is true, because the fact is for Swiss kids,
life with guns is very different.
- Nothing happens.
It's not like in the U.S.
where you have those mass shootings.
- So your son, when he goes to school
he just has to worry about school?
- Yeah, catching the bus on time.
- Unlike America, Switzerland has found a way
to peacefully coexist with firearms.
Shot, shots, shots. (guns firing)
Oh shit, whoa, whoa.
And one of the main reasons is
that while these gun owners may be loaded,
it's actually illegal for their guns to be loaded
when not in use.
We got beer, we got guns, we got food.
I feel like I'm growing another testicle down here.
You know what I mean? (men laughing)
So America, if we're gonna insist on being a nation
of gun nuts, we could at least try and Swiss things up.
(audience cheering)