They have so many guns because the law requires that able-bodied men are required to keep the ones they were issued in the army in their homes. They rarely use them. The guy who runs my Geneva office probably hasn't touched his in 20 years.
This is a far cry from our "Second Amendment" nuts who leave their spare Glocks out so their 4 year old kids can accidentally kill their two year old siblings.
They keep up the military preparedness because it is only 75 years since Hitler and Mussolini decided the only reason it wasn't worth invading Switzerland was because it indeed wasn't worth it. A lot has changed in the last 75 years, of course. But a lot could change in the next 75 years, too. Far be it from me to call them wrong.
Oh, and though "German" is an official language, just TRY understanding the Swiss if all you speak is German. When Swiss-German shows come on German TV, they are either dubbed or get subtitles. It took me ten years to get "Schwyzerdüütsch" down, and even then each German-speaking Canton has a different version of it. Isch doch immer a chlien' Unterschied, un' meischt verstosch nyt, oder?
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