A dangerous moment for the US after Kirk shooting 9/15/25 TDPS Podcast

I listen to David often. This careful distillation of this horrible killing ... is so welcome. We, all of us, must condemn violence.

I write this from Switzerland. Like most young men here, I went through military service and kept a rifle at home. That means: every Swiss household is familiar with the presence of a gun. Some people only keep the military-issued weapon, some also own private firearms – but it’s not unusual at all. To give you an idea: in a country of 8.5 million, there are around 2.3 million civilian guns. Roughly one in three adults has access to one – and that’s not even counting militia rifles. So yes, we live surrounded by weapons. And yet: Switzerland sees fewer than 20 gun homicides a year. In the U.S., it’s more than 40,000. The difference isn’t “guns or no guns.” It’s culture, rules, and context. For us, a rifle is tied to duty, training, and responsibility. In the U.S., too often it becomes identity, ideology, even myth. I remember the feeling of having that rifle at 20 – heavy, cold, just a tool. Nobody thought of using it to settle an argument. That’s the contrast: here, guns are part of democracy; in the U.S., they’re part of polarization. And maybe that’s where the discussion really begins. Nobody wants gun deaths – not conservatives, not liberals, not anyone. So why does the U.S. system produce so many, while ours doesn’t? Is it regulation? Social trust? Training? Or is it deeper – loneliness, inequality, ideology? Guns don’t pull their own triggers. People do. The hard part is asking: what makes people reach for them?

What a fresh breath of air. I love the way you express yourself, and you have earned a staunch follower.

They don’t want people going to college because they want to keep them in their echo chamber.

All the children who are getting no food and he puts a ballroom in!! What a horrible waste of money 😢

Get my takes before they go viral: http://substack.davidpakman.com

David, you are a brave snd honest man!

Sharp episode. All on point.

This is an excellent analysis.

Insightful analysis. Thank you. 👏