Representatives of four centre-right and rightwing parties told a news conference the initiative by a broad alliance of NGOs and centre-left parties was disempowering law-abiding citizens and members of the militia army.
They said existing measures to fight abuses are sufficient.
“The Swiss gun law is very strict; let us not create unnecessary new ones,” said Jakob Büchler of the Christian Democrats.
Opponents also dismissed allegations that Switzerland’s suicide rate was linked to access to firearms.
In a newspaper interview Defence Minister Ueli Maurer argued that women are more likely to approve the initiative because of an inability to handle firearms.
The comment was dismissed both by women who oppose and those in favour of the initiative.
The initiative, which wants to ban army-issue firearms from households and set up a nationwide arms register, will go to a nationwide vote on February 13.
It was launched in the wake of a number of high-profile killings, including an attack by a lone gunman on a cantonal parliament in 2001.
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Number of gun deaths goes down in Switzerland
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While 291 fell victim to a bullet in 2007, the figure was 259 in 2008, the Federal Statistics Office announced on Tuesday. In both years, most of those deaths were suicides: 264 in 2007, and 239 the following year. Most of 2008’s victims were male; 13 per cent were female. In 2007, women accounted for…
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Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said on Monday that the current gun law was sufficient to protect against misuse and that the initiative would be difficult to put into practice. The people’s initiative, launched by the centre-left Social Democratic Party – Sommaruga’s own party – as well as pacifist and doctors’ organisations, will be put to…
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The people’s initiative, launched by the centre-left Social Democratic Party, pacifist and medical organisations, will be put to a nationwide vote on February 13. The initiative committee presented its website and slogan, “Protect families – vote yes to prevent gun violence” on Sunday. Pictured is a teddy bear with blood dripping from a bullet hole…
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Switzerland has the highest number of arms per capita, with estimates varying between 1.2 million and 2.3 million. But exact data are not available as there is no central arms register. Shaken by a number of high-profile killings over the past decade a broad alliance of human rights groups, churches, women’s organisations, trade unions and…
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Monday’s debate in the House of Representatives was the latest in series of discussions over gun law issues over the past few years. Legislators threw out an initiative, supported mainly by centre-left parliamentarians, which would have forced members of Switzerland’s militia army to keep their rifles at army bases instead of storing them in households.…
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Whether it’s the militia army, the federal shooting competiton or a spontaneous volley of gunfire to express joy, guns are part of the Swiss heritage. And many people associate them with historical battles rather than with killings and crime. (Picture editor: Christoph Balsiger, swissinfo.ch)
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