A group of former army officers has come out in favour of an initiative restricting access to firearms that will come to a nationwide vote on February 13.
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The former majors and lieutenant-colonels told a news conference that the proposal did not undermine the Swiss militia army but helped reduce the risk of gun violence and gun thefts.
The group rejected allegations that it wants to abolish the army. Members say they represented a “considerable number of officers and former officers”, but refused to mention a figure.
The group, one of more than 70 organisations backing the initiative, argues that it no longer makes sense to store army-issue guns at home to defend Switzerland against a military invasion.
Opponents of the initiative, including most political parties, the government, the armed forces and the gun lobby, say it endangers cherished Swiss values and weakened Switzerland’s defence.
The initiative was launched in the wake of an attack by a lone gunman against a cantonal parliament in 2001 and a number of high-profile family killings.
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Anti-gun move seen as attack on Swiss values
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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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“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…
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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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