Swiss Americans are the most bloodthirsty? Gun control advocates sometimes portray hunters as violent-prone and maybe a bit deranged. One way to test this is to see if there is a association between hunting and criminal violence. Well, according to the General Social Survey, there isn't one. American men were asked if they hunt:


Percent of men who hunt

Swiss 50.0
Finns 48.6
Dutch 41.7
American Indians 39.1
Germans 37.8
Norwegians 36.8
French 35.7
Swedes 33.6
Austrians 32.7
Czechs 31.0
English/Welsh 30.1
Scots 30.0
Irish 29.0
French Canadians 27.9
Poles 22.3
Mexicans 22.1
Italians 20.3
Danes 19.3
Blacks 14.7
Spain 13.7
Puerto Ricans 5.2
Russians 5.0
Chinese 2.2

Other data I've presented show that blacks and Mexicans have the highest rates of criminal violence, but they have low rates of hunting. Some low-violence groups are not into hunting (e.g., Chinese) but it looks like the activity has a lot to do with tradition and perhaps living in less populated areas. Thinking of Europe, it's more of a northern thing and more of a western thing--just the opposite of the pattern of violent crime.