Switzerland Strips All Citizens of Gun Rights

[Man from La Mancha]

Does anyone know if this is true?

Switzerland Strips All Citizens of Gun Rights.http://concealed.wordpress.com/2007/10/27/switzerland-strips-all-citizens-of-gun-rights/


Despite the vehement protests from many of Switzerland’s cantons (states), the lower chamber of the nation’s Federal Assembly voted to strip its citizens of gun rights, not by registering or confiscating firearms, but by outlawing the storing of ammunition in the homes of the citizens.

According to The Liberty Zone, the move was led by Switzerland’s small but vocal–and powerful–Socialist minority. And apparently it was a leading women’s magazine who aided the Socialists in the cause.

Having failed at attempts to take the guns themselves from homes and store them in government facilities, the new law takes aim at ammo rather than the guns. The Swiss are still allowed to possess firearms; they simply will not be allowed to possess the ammunition to use them.

This is the backdoor method of disarming citizens, and it is very effective.

The ban also applies to the male citizens who make up Switzerland’s time-honored citizens’ militia. Even they will be required to keep their ammo at approved government facilities.

The fact that a Leftist minority group was able to convince a majority of representatives in the Swiss Federal Assembly to approve the measure is considered a major victory for Socialism and the push to strip individual citizens of the right to keep and bear arms.

In a stunning example of what Leftists can do when citizens are not paying attention, the Socialist ban on ammunition in the homes of the Swiss people should be a stark lesson for U.S. citizens who wish to preserve the right to keep and bear arms. Anti-gun groups do not have to register or confiscate firearms to win the battle.

Rather, the growing modus operandi of the gun control movement is to render a Constitutional right null, void, and useless by implementing legislation aimed at things such as ammunition rather than the actual guns themselves.

Within the U.S. the anti-gun movement does not even have to introduce legislation. A mere executive order by an Administration in the 1990s has been all it takes for a massive assault to ensue on gun shops, gun manufacturers, and other facets of the gun industry, to begin to gradually rob the citizens of their rights to keep and bear arms. This is presently being accomplished by a rogue arm of the Department of Justice–the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives–which has succeeded in shutting down 80% of the gun stores, and gun and ammo manufacturers, within the U.S.

The prevailing wisdom, similar to what we find in Switzerland, is to attack gun ownership by focusing on various facets of the gun and ammo industry rather than to directly attack the citizens’ guns. This effectively renders useless any supposed right to own, possess, and use a firearm without addressing the firearms themselves at all–a perfect example of disarming the citizens using the backdoor method.

Switzerland has been the last bastion of real gun rights in Europe. Now even the Swiss have fallen to the sly and seductive ways of the Socialist anti-gun movement.

October 27, 2007 - Posted by fastmetal | Politically Speaking, Uncategorized | Gun Rights | 4 Comments

[Corydoras]

Worse. See the last sentence.

http://www.tdg.ch/pages/home/tribune_de_geneve/english_corner/news/news_detail/(contenu)/96815

Bullets no longer stored at home
| 10h02 Federal lawmakers approve historic new regulations requiring army ammunition to be kept in arsenals, while stopping short of a ban on firearms in Swiss residences.

Most Swiss soldiers will have to keep ammunition in arsenals.
21 Juin 2007 | 10h02
The Swiss government is tightening regulations for weapons while the senate has approved a general ban on the storing of army ammunition at home. The measures fall short of a ban on keeping military guns in private residences, although left-wing campaigners are planning to launch an initiative to achieve this goal.
The senate on Wednesday voted 35 to five (with two abstentions) in favor of a policy that will require most of the 120,000 active soldiers in the Swiss militia army to store their ammunition in arsenals rather than at home. At an exception will be made for 2,000 men serving as “first responders” and the situation could change if new threats arise. But the new policy is regarded as historic.
Requirements have eased in recent years, but most young men in Switzerland are required to serve in the army for 10 months, with exceptions made for those who do community service work and for medical reasons. The soldiers keep firearms after their service ends. The result is an estimated 1.5 million guns are kept in Swiss homes, including those for hunting and for members of shooting clubs.
Supporters of the initiative to ban all weapons in homes say about 300 deaths are caused annually by Swiss army weapons, many of them as a result of domestic disputes. Surveys show more than a third of suicides involve firearms. The initiative calls for a national gun registry and a ban on the personal use of automatic weapons.
The parliament this week approved restrictions on carrying dangerous weapons and the private purchase of firearms on the Internet without authorization. Under the new law, police can seize items such as baseball bats, metal pipes and chains if it appears they could be used as weapons.

[Maverick]

WTF? If they can do this in the gun-rights utopia of Switzerland, then we're screwed. :eek:

[Malum Prohibitum]

switzerland has been inching toward police state for some time, but this comes as a real shock.

Do the Swiss have an equivalent to our 4th Am to keep the police out of their homes without prob cause?

[DRV45N05]

I can't believe this. How does just THREE-HUNDRED gun-related deaths in an entire COUNTRY per year justify draconian gun control methods?

[Maverick]

I can't believe this. How does just THREE-HUNDRED gun-related deaths in an entire COUNTRY per year justify draconian gun control methods?

According to wikipedia, the latest census data says that Switzerland's population is about 7.5 million. So total gun-related deaths expressed on a per capita basis would be about 1 in 25,000. You probably have better odds of being hit by lightening.

[AisA1787]

I can't believe this. How does just THREE-HUNDRED gun-related deaths in an entire COUNTRY per year justify draconian gun control methods?


Beats the hell out of me. If you believe Wikipedia, most of those are suicides:

"Police statistics for the year 2006[8] records 34 killings or attempted killings involving firearms, compared to 69 cases involving bladed weapons and 16 cases of unarmed assault. Cases of assault resulting in bodily harm numbered 89 (firearms) and 526 (bladed weapons). This represents a decline of aggravated assaults involving firearms since the early 1990s. Some 300 deaths per year are due to legally held army ordonnance weapons, the large majority of these being suicides."

[Dave Pedersen]

Its odd Ron Paul just said in an interview last week that Switzerland was a nation he particularly admired..

Times are a chang'in quickly these daze.

[V-rod]

Tyranny lives on :(

[split_lipz]

Under the new law, police can seize items such as baseball bats, metal pipes and chains if it appears they could be used as weapons.

WOW!!! God damn, I feel sorry for the Swiss.

[xao]

This was their govt. doing this, NOT the swiss people. I'd guess that the people are outraged and angry. Is a revolt going to happen over their?

[noxagol]

They have tried to do this here several times using several methods. They tried to outlaw ammo, they tried to set up ridiculous safety measures for explosives and counted ammo as an explosive. Open you eyes to the bullshit!

[Anti Federalist]

Thus are the consequences of joining the European Union.

First they told holdouts against the EU, like Switzerland, that there was no such thing as the EU.

They said people who said "you would lose rights under a multi state union" were conspiracy theorists.

They say there is no North American Union.

They say you're a conspiracy nut if you believe you would lose rights under a such a union, the one they say in the next breath doesn't exist.

You have been warned.

[1000-points-of-fright]

Slow down folks....

What the new Swiss law does is prohibit soldiers from storing army-issue ammo at home. While parliament recently approved a bill requiring ammunition to be stored in armories, reservists can still keep their army-issued assault rifle at home and bullets are readily available from weapons stores.

Yes, it's a pointless law and a creeping start to disarmament, but it's not quite as draconian as the article makes it out to be.

[DarkLaw]

This was their govt. doing this, NOT the swiss people. I'd guess that the people are outraged and angry. Is a revolt going to happen over their?

I'll fly over and assist if needed in the armed revolution!
That's just CRAZY! The Swiss of ALL people. Wow.

[pickdog]

I am stunned if this is true

[Cleaner44]

They should be perfectly safe now, I'm sure the criminals were the first to get in line to deposit their ammo into the governemnt armory.

[qednick]

This is incredibly sad. However, if these "leftists" really are a vocal minority then all the Swiss need to do is raise a petition of at least 50,000 signatures and the government will be forced to hold a public referendum on this issue - the results of which become binding in law.

[literatim]

Despite the vehement protests from many of Switzerland’s cantons (states), the lower chamber of the nation’s Federal Assembly voted to strip its citizens of gun rights, not by registering or confiscating firearms, but by outlawing the storing of ammunition in the homes of the citizens.

According to The Liberty Zone, the move was led by Switzerland’s small but vocal–and powerful–Socialist minority. And apparently it was a leading women’s magazine who aided the Socialists in the cause.

Having failed at attempts to take the guns themselves from homes and store them in government facilities, the new law takes aim at ammo rather than the guns. The Swiss are still allowed to possess firearms; they simply will not be allowed to possess the ammunition to use them.

This is the backdoor method of disarming citizens, and it is very effective.

The ban also applies to the male citizens who make up Switzerland’s time-honored citizens’ militia. Even they will be required to keep their ammo at approved government facilities.

The fact that a Leftist minority group was able to convince a majority of representatives in the Swiss Federal Assembly to approve the measure is considered a major victory for Socialism and the push to strip individual citizens of the right to keep and bear arms.

In a stunning example of what Leftists can do when citizens are not paying attention, the Socialist ban on ammunition in the homes of the Swiss people should be a stark lesson for U.S. citizens who wish to preserve the right to keep and bear arms. Anti-gun groups do not have to register or confiscate firearms to win the battle.

Rather, the growing modus operandi of the gun control movement is to render a Constitutional right null, void, and useless by implementing legislation aimed at things such as ammunition rather than the actual guns themselves.

Within the U.S. the anti-gun movement does not even have to introduce legislation. A mere executive order by an Administration in the 1990s has been all it takes for a massive assault to ensue on gun shops, gun manufacturers, and other facets of the gun industry, to begin to gradually rob the citizens of their rights to keep and bear arms. This is presently being accomplished by a rogue arm of the Department of Justice–the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives–which has succeeded in shutting down 80% of the gun stores, and gun and ammo manufacturers, within the U.S.

The prevailing wisdom, similar to what we find in Switzerland, is to attack gun ownership by focusing on various facets of the gun and ammo industry rather than to directly attack the citizens’ guns. This effectively renders useless any supposed right to own, possess, and use a firearm without addressing the firearms themselves at all–a perfect example of disarming the citizens using the backdoor method.

Switzerland has been the last bastion of real gun rights in Europe. Now even the Swiss have fallen to the sly and seductive ways of the Socialist anti-gun movement.

http://concealed.wordpress.com/2007/10/27/switzerland-strips-all-citizens-of-gun-rights/

[Conza88]

Oh my god.. NOT cool.
What the hell is wrong with them.. no massacres over there... they've NEVER been invaded. In Europe too.. idiots. :(

[jondisx]

not the swiss.... o god no not the swiss

[erikm]

Fortunately the lead article is probably factually incorrect or incomplete. It may also using dated information. The ammunition ban applies to government issued army ammunition kept at home by reservists (most male adults).

See this Tribune de Genève (http://www.tdg.ch/pages/home/tribune_de_geneve/english_corner/news/news_detail/(contenu)/96815) article for more information. The dating on it is 21-JUN-2007. In more recent swiss news, the Swiss Jura mountain ski resorts have opened for business.

Cheers,
ErikM

[erikm]

See http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=51304 for more responses.

Short version: old and probably incorrect information.

[asgardshill]

Slow down folks....

What the new Swiss law does is prohibit soldiers from storing army-issue ammo at home. While parliament recently approved a bill requiring ammunition to be stored in armories, reservists can still keep their army-issued assault rifle at home and bullets are readily available from weapons stores.

Well that's that then. All is well. The Swiss can breathe easy just as long as any potential invasion or urban uprising occurs during normal business hours.

[sparebulb]

Look for similiar to happen over here very soon. Be scared.............

[asgardshill]

Time to start trolling EBay again for those old sonobuoy tubes. With a little cosmoline and tightly sealed, they're great for storing long metallic objects ...

[Tugboat1988]

That's one of the influences of socialism. Under such systems, there is a thought that Parliament can make nearly any law or regulation is wishes withoug regard to its' Constitution. And there is also an influence under Parliamentry systems that individual Rights are deemed derived from their government, or if you'd rather, their Constitution.

Noting that our system is different, under the Constituion, the influences of socialism, and the power monger society manipulators attempt the same. The defense you must maintain begins with a knowledge of what government can do, or can not do. After that, it's up to a population to make sure govenment does not turn into a bunch of outlaw highwaymen attempting to overturn the Constitution. That's what keeps the Free, free.

Freedom does not derive its place from the laps of politicians.

Tugboat

[Minlawc]

WOW!!! God damn, I feel sorry for the Swiss.

Well I don't...

This is when they should use those weapons, to stop their government. They need to stand up.

[Fox McCloud]

I heard about this on a radio program, and it pretty much re-iterated what was said in the article. If this is true, it's a sad sad day for Republicanism/Libertarianism.

I figured this would happen eventually though; it's the consequences of false and ridiculous social policies.

I just hope the US holds out until the bitter bitter end.

[RP4ME]

I think they pretty much vote for everything via referendums so....I cant see them wanting to give this right up! I woudl think we woudl hear more about it before it happened?

[xd9fan]

This is why the 2A is soooo important here.

I just want the american people to have that old Swiss....ok old American attitude