European Bureaucrats Threatening Swiss Gun Rights

May 2, 2018 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

 

As an economist, I admire Switzerland for its sensible approach to issues such as spending restraint and taxation.

As an observer of political systems, I admire Switzerland for its robust federalism.
As a supporter of human rights, I admire Switzerland’s protection of financial privacy (sadly weakened because of external pressure).

As an advocate of freedom, I admire Switzerland because there is a tradition of gun rights.
Indeed, there is a gun store less than a mile from the federal parliament in Bern that sells (gasp!) military-style assault rifles.

Sadly, it wasn’t open when I walked by this past weekend, so I could only snap a photo of the display window.

I couldn’t help but mentally compare the Swiss capital, where guns are sold, with the U.S. capital, where favors are sold.

There’s also a pro-gun culture in Switzerland, as reflected in this article.

“Shooting is becoming increasing popular again among the young, and the federal decision to lower the age of access to lessons is a big part of it,” says a happy Christoph Petermann, deputy chief of communications for the Swiss Target Shooting Federation. In 2016, the government lowered the age at which young people can attend target shooting lessons from 17 to 15. “In addition, we’re particularly pleased with the number of girls and young women who choose shooting…” When it comes to training children how to shoot, …Children are admitted from the age of five – but not to shoot with an assault rifle. This young, they train with pistols, air rifles, crossbows or bows. It gets serious from the age of ten – with small-calibre weapons – and from 12, in general, with assault rifles.

Unfortunately, Swiss gun rights are being attacked.

The problem isn’t the politicians in Bern. It’s the bureaucrats at the European Commission.
The Swiss media is covering the issue.

…the EU gun control plans, due to be completed by 2019, aim to curb online weapons sales and impose tight restrictions on assault weapons. …Swiss army-issue weapons would still be allowed to be kept at home after military service, in keeping with tradition. Hunters are also not affected by the plan. But certain semi-automatic weapons – such as those with magazines holding over 20 rounds of ammunition – and some high-capacity shoulder-supported rifles would be banned. …Gun collectors will be required to catalogue and report their collections to the authorities.

Needless to say, Swiss gun groups are not happy.

Critics…say the government proposal was decided undemocratically and the clampdown will have no influence on public safety or terrorism in Europe. They are concerned about its impact on their right to bear arms and are particularly unhappy with restrictions on certain categories of semi-automatic weapons and magazines, the possible impact on army-issue guns, and additional bureaucracy. …Jean-Robert Consolini, the owner of Lagardere Armoury, said he would fight the proposal. “These terror attacks were carried out by people using guns from the black market, not from a legal trade via an armoury. So, this directive won’t prevent the traffic of weapons…” Today, Switzerland has among the highest gun ownership rates per capita among Western countries. It is thought that around two million are in circulation. High rates of ownership and existing gun laws reflect the country’s deep-rooted belief in the right to bear arms and the needs of its militia army.

Monsieur Consolini is completely correct, by the way, about the EU directive having no effect on terrorists, who invariably can get weapons on the black market.

In any event, American gun groups have sympathy for their Swiss counterparts.

The National Rifle Association has opined about the controversy

Switzerland…has the most civilian-owned firearms per capita in Europe and ranks third worldwide… The experience of Switzerland, just like many parts of the United States, 

serves to refute gun control advocates’ contention that more firearm ownership means more violence. Unfortunately, …a tradition of peaceful gun ownership will not dissuade gun prohibitionists. …the latest push for gun control in Switzerland stems from the updates to the European Union Firearms Directive Brussels adopted in April 2017. …The most controversial change to EU gun law…classified handguns equipped with a magazine with a capacity greater than 20 rounds and long guns equipped with a magazine with a capacity greater than 10 rounds as Category A firearms. Category A firearms are generally prohibited for civilian use. Further, the legislation required EU Member States to create firearms registries… Switzerland is not a member of the EU, however, the country is a member of the Schengen Area… As such, Switzerland is obligated to conform to the EU’s firearms restrictions.

Here are more details from the NRA report.

On April 9, Swiss gun rights organization ProTell (named for legendary marksman William Tell…) expressed their opposition to the EU changes to the Swiss legislature. Calling Switzerland’s gun laws “an expression of trust and respect between citizen and state,”… In December, ProTell made clear that it is willing to fight any further restrictions on gun rights through the referendum process. The Swiss People’s Party has also registered its staunch opposition to the new EU restrictions.

So what’s going to happen?

There are two possible positive outcomes.

First, as I noted last year, the Czech Republic is on the right side of this fight. And its government is challenging the European Commission’s interference in what should be a matter decided by national governments.

The Czech Republic filed a lawsuit…against a new European Union directive tightening gun ownership, aimed at limiting access to semi-automatic and other weapons… EU interior ministers gave a final nod to the changes…despite the Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Poland voicing opposition. The Czech Interior Ministry said the directive was too harsh, affecting for example thousands of hunters – a popular activity with a long tradition in the central European country. …“Such a massive punishment of decent arms holders is unacceptable, because banning legally-held weapons has no connection with the fight against terrorism,” Interior Minister Milan Chovanec said in a statement. “This is not only a nonsensical decision once again undermining people’s trust in the EU, but implementing the directive could also have a negative impact on the internal security of the Czech Republic, because a large number of weapons could move to the black market,” he said. …The lower chamber of the Czech parliament approved a bill in June putting gun owners’ rights in the constitution.

In theory, the Czech government’s legal argument should prevail since “subsidiarity” is ostensibly enshrined in European treaties.

But I fear that principle of decentralization will be overlooked because of the pro-harmonization ideology that is so prevalent in EU institutions.

So the second option for a positive outcome is a referendum in Switzerland, which has a long tradition of direct democracy.

And since the Swiss tend to be very sensible when voting on national issues, we can hope that they reject gun control and – for all intents and purposes – tell the European Commission to take a hike.

Let’s hope so. There are very few libertarian-minded jurisdictions in the world. It would be a shame if the Swiss rolled over and let EU bureaucrats dictate their gun laws.

P.S. For more info on global gun control data on information, click here and here