Originally Posted by
MassiveD
Yeah, but if they were all in the mid-winter in Sweden... Although the fact that the US and Sweden have identical rates of firearm ownership, cost of acquisition, and ease of storage is a strong point in comparing these national stats directly.
There is evidence that long days are actually worse with places like Greenland scoring high there.
Actually having lived in the U.S. and in Sweden, I have a bit of reality rather than just speculation.
The entire culture has been dealing with the dark for almost a thousand years. Swedes have built up a number of cultural practices that ensure they don't have problems with it - from a HUGE exercise culture to frequent social gatherings to changing to candle lighting in many stores to make the dark festive and (when there's snow on the ground to reflect the light) magical. There's also the thing of highly regulated alcohol sales, which limits some possibilities of excessive behavior.
Also, I don't know where you are getting your firearm stats. Gun ownership is far less than half in Sweden, is much more regulated, much MUCH more culturally frowned upon. Contrast that with getting guns like candy in Walmart, or like me - shooting automatic weapons in the back woods before I was ten. I was constantly quizzed as to why Americans are so obsessed with guns. Sweden is much more like Switzerland than the U.S. in firearm attitudes and practices.