Police and doctors associations have issued a plea for tougher gun laws, which will come to a nationwide vote in February.
This content was published on
1 minute
swissinfo.ch and agencies
“We want to save lives, not do away with the army,” said Jacques de Haller, president of the Swiss Medical Association, in reference to a fear that the initiative to ban men from keeping military-issue guns at home could be seen as a pacifist smokescreen to weaken the army.
Jean-Pierre Monti, the president of the union representing employees of the federal police force, said officers understand better than anyone the threat represented by the more than 2.3 million privately owned weapons in the country.
Monti added that it would ease police work if every weapon was registered in a centralised database.
On February 13, the Swiss will be asked to vote for or against the introduction of a national gun register and weapons to be kept in arsenals, not private homes.
The government has come out against the proposal, saying current gun laws are sufficient to protect against misuse and that the initiative would be difficult to put into practice.
The centre-left Social Democratic Party is the main political group backing the initiative.
Keeping military firearms at home is a long-standing tradition for the Swiss militia army, which is supposed to be ready for a call to arms in times of crisis.
Most Read Swiss Abroad
More
Swiss reject biodiversity and pension reform proposals
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
Parliament rejects tougher gun laws
This content was published on
The initiative will now go to the Senate, ahead of a national vote in February 2011. New figures show that Switzerland’s militia soldiers seem to prefer to keep their military guns at home rather than deposit them free at local army bases. Launched in February 2009 by the centre-left Social Democratic Party and a number…
This content was published on
The incident comes amid a heated debate over Switzerland’s gun laws. Army issue weapons are involved in the death of more than 300 people a year in the country. The Zurich prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday that the 21-year-old soldier, who was arrested two days after the shooting, admitted to committing the crime. The authorities…
This content was published on
The latest in a series of incidents involving army weapons – which all enlisted Swiss men have to keep at home with ammunition – will add fuel to the heated political debate over reforming the country’s gun laws. A 23-year-old local man, described by police as a practising Swiss Muslim, was detained on Monday night…
This content was published on
The latest Small Arms Survey, published by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies (GIIS), criticises Switzerland’s lack of transparency over reliable statistics on firearms. Switzerland ranks behind the United States, Yemen and Finland, but ahead of Iraq in the per capita count, and in position 22 overall. Civilians globally own approximately 650 million handguns…
This content was published on
As the national gun debate hots up, swissinfo tests the temperature of opinion among gun fans with a visit to a gun dealer and stop-off at the “world’s biggest shooting festival”. It’s 10am and the tiny premises of Poyet gun shop in the middle of the capital Bern are a hive of activity. A distinguished-looking…
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.