Guns And The Swiss
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Guns and Ammo, Military, The World
Interesting article from the BBC about how the Swiss handle the gun situation.
Because, for being such a historically neutral country, they’ve certainly got a very militaristic attitude:
The country has a population of six million, but there are estimated to be at least two million publicly-owned firearms, including about 600,000 automatic rifles and 500,000 pistols.This is in a very large part due to Switzerland’s unique system of national defence, developed over the centuries.
Instead of a standing, full-time army, the country requires every man to undergo some form of military training for a few days or weeks a year throughout most of their lives.
Between the ages of 21 and 32 men serve as frontline troops. They are given an M-57 assault rifle and 24 rounds of ammunition which they are required to keep at home.
Once discharged, men serve in the Swiss equivalent of the US National Guard, but still have to train occasionally and are given bolt rifles. Women do not have to own firearms, but are encouraged to.
Mandatory gun ownership for guys. Well, I guess if you’re usually a neutral country and somebody thinks about invading you, a gun in every house is the way to go. Instant guerilla warriors.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 1st, 2007 and is filed under Guns and Ammo, Military, The World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 1st, 2007 at 2:12 pm
It’s how the Swiss manage to stay neutral: in addition to some really rough geography to attack, they’re armed to the teeth (and not merely with automatic weapons in every home either) and trained. It’s just too hard a nut to crack for way too little reward.
May 1st, 2007 at 8:14 pm
OK, come on and give us the rest of it…
You have said nothing direct about the gun laws in Switzerland other than “Mandatory gun ownership for guys. “. That in fact is a mis-statement of the article which clearly says “They are given an M-57 assault rifle and 24 rounds of ammunition which they are required to keep at home.” That is NOT “compulsory gun ownership”.
May 1st, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Always found this one amusing:
When the German Kaiser asked in 1912 what the quarter of a million Swiss militiamen would do if invaded by a half million German soldiers, a Swiss man replied: “Shoot twice and go home.”
May 2nd, 2007 at 7:05 am
“A well regulated militia“. They are trained and there are strict guidelines on storage of weapons. WJ is right, hand grenades and even RPGs are in homes depending on the reservists location and duties.
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:11 am
HAHAHAHAHA!
June 5th, 2007 at 10:04 am
This is over now. The Ammo is no longer given home through the most recent political decision.
A pitty the internet sucks so much, and not all news can be found in english… news-networks’ comment systems are supervised and censored.
The government has very radically and suddenly changed its opinion about gun control, and decided the ammunition to stay within military installations.
Holocaust 2.