A Swiss man who hoarded thousands of guns and boxes of ammunition in his home has been fined. The extensive stash was uncovered by police in October 2014.
This content was published on
2 minutes
swissinfo.ch and agencies
When the 69-year-old man failed to keep appointments with the authorities to carry out checks on his weapons and did not produce documents they had requested, police raided his home in Unterseen, in the Bernese Oberland. They found it was packed to the rafters with guns.
After the perimeter of the building was sealed off police officers spent days securing the various weapons they had uncovered, taking them out of the house and filing them into crates and boxes under the cover of white tents. It was a case that shocked a country which is proud of its ability to generally keep guns safely and securely within the law.
In total 2,400 weapons and 53 boxes of ammunition were discovered; 400 kilograms of explosives were found later. The man runs a business which has a permit to sell guns.
At the time he claimed he was a victim of the authorities, and in an interview with local television station, Telebärn, said: “I keep everything locked away in the house, they [the guns] are not walking out of there on their own. And I’m not taking them out of the house in any case”. He lodged an official complaint with the courts over the search of his property, but this was recently rejected.
The public prosecutor in the Bernese Oberland concluded on Thursday that the man had violated the law on the storage of weapons and in a number of cases had not possessed the required permits. He has been given a conditional fine of CHF6,300 ($6,422), with a probation period of four years and a one-off fine of CHF1,400.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Debate over gun ownership rages on
This content was published on
The idea now has to pass through both houses of parliament, where it is likely to be vigorously opposed by the gun lobby. At the moment, only guns acquired after 2008 have to be included in cantonal registries. It’s thought many of the undeclared guns sitting in Swiss homes pre-date 2008. Recent shooting incidents have…
This content was published on
A majority of rightwing, centre-right and centrist members in the parliamentary chamber on Tuesday threw out a government proposal to introduce a mandatory gun registration for all firearms, including those acquired before December 2008. They argued that the planned amendment would cause an unnecessary bureaucratic burden and criminalise citizens who forget to register old weapons.…
This content was published on
Coming as it did barely two weeks after the attack on New York’s twin towers, the shooting spree was especially traumatic. The gunman, who bore a grudge against the legal system which he felt had treated him unfairly, left another 18 people injured, some of them seriously. One of them was Anne Ithen, a member…
This content was published on
“A victory for the old Switzerland,” was the headline of the editorial in the Basler Zeitung, following Sunday’s vote in which just over 56 per cent of voters rejected banning army-issue firearms from the home and setting up a central arms register in a bid to curb gun violence. “Security and the ability to defend…
This content was published on
Every five years the Federal Shooting Competition in Valais opens its doors to around 40,000 enthusiasts from all over Switzerland. The latest edition took place in June and July. The fair never fails to attract visitors. Most of the weapons in use are made in Switzerland. But, small weapon manufacturing in Switzerland is on the…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.