Senate opposes weapons database
The Senate says there is no need for a central weapons registry, refusing to back a proposal by the other parliamentary chamber, the House of Representatives.
It voted 25 to seven against the creation of a database to keep tabs on all weapons purchased by the Swiss, as called for by the Green party and centre-left Social Democrats.
During Thursday's debate Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf argued that Switzerland did not need to change its current system tracking weapons to fulfil its obligations under Europe's Schengen security treaty.
The majority of senators agreed that the electronic weapons' registries of the individual cantons were sufficiently linked to make a central database superfluous.
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