Until the crime is committed, there is no
apparent difference between the two.
It's very easy to identify segments of society, and often, individuals, who are likely to misuse guns, and we can also identify responsible people fairly well. For example, carry permit holders have proven extremely unlikely to commit gun crimes. We can't identify every nut in advance, and it would be stupid to think we ever will, but most violent criminals are known jerks.
Here is an obvious premise of my comment: an armed citizenry is very helpful to a nation, and disarming responsible people on a wide scale, while leaving the lawless armed, is a dumb idea that weakens countries. The risk that one or two Swiss citizens might shoot a few, or even a few dozen, people may be acceptable, given the evils that will result from disarmament.
Here in the US, we have sent countless young men to die in war to protect our civil rights, yet we are unwilling to accept the risk of a relatively small number of civilian casualties as a by-product of preserving our civil right to be armed. That's very strange. We let people drive, even for pleasure, even though we know thousands will be killed or disabled in accidents every year, and driving is a mere privilege, not a right. People who make gun laws should weigh the pros and cons in an intelligent manner instead of reacting to a few gun deaths like scared chickens in a hailstorm.
Thinking absolutely no guns, no gun violence is completely sensible and quite correct even if you extend it to war. It is the impossibility of reaching the no guns state that the do-gooder doesn’t understand.
Holding "gun violence" out as the problem is a fundamental error. "Violence" is the problem, and we don't need guns to commit acts of violence. The Swiss are highly educated, very disciplined, and affluent. There are more efficient tools of destruction than guns, and if they want to, Swiss criminals will find and use them.
An intelligent person who plots to hurt others won't use a gun. Look what you can do with a pressure cooker.