I noticed Jeff blogging about the Swiss Militia not storing ammunition at home, but letting them keep their rifles. I used to work with a Swiss guy, and had this explained to me once.
Basically, ammunition that’s issued by the government in the home is tightly regulated. You are not allowed to open that ammunition except under orders, or in a national emergency. The government keeps track of ammunition issued as part of your militia duty. Ammunition for practice and shooting is commonly available in Switzerland, so this change in law won’t affect the ability of the Swiss to store ammunition in their homes, or to buy ammunition for sport shooting, hunting, or self-defense. They just will no longer be issued ammunition by the Swiss government, to be kept and not used except in a national emergency.
This is entirely a symbolic victory for the gun control forces in Switzerland. That’s not to say this isn’t something to worry about, we know how the gun control movement operates, and they will take their symbolic victories, and use it to build a movement for greater restrictions. The Swiss ought to be worried, very worried, as this is just a first step.  But as a first step, it’s a really small one.
What they can do now is, if crime drops, they can say “Look, this restriction worked, we need to do more” or, if it doesn’t, they say ” This restriction wasn’t tough enough, we need to do more”.
Yep. The idea is to get the ball rolling.
I don’t have an optimistic outlook on Swiss gun rights in the long term.
they have already stated that the next step is removal of the weapons. Much like Sarah Brady “first step” declaration right after getting the “only thing we will ask for”.
The fact remains thar gunloons have always pointed to Switzerland and said, ‘See? Everyone has automatic weapons and the streets aren’t awash with blood.’
Of course, the gunloons are either very ignorant of Swiss laws or wish to omit a few very salient points. As Sebastian points out, it’s not as if Johann Swiss can take his automatic weapon out in the woods and blast away whenever he feels like it. The gunloons also fail to note that private purchases of handguns and rifles are registered and the buyer must have a clean criminal record and no history of mental illness. There is also a licensing system.
it’s not as if Johann Swiss can take his automatic weapon out in the woods and blast away whenever he feels like it
It’s not like you can do that here either. Some places in the west, where there is very sparse population, you can get away with it. The Swiss are allowed, nay, even encouraged to, practice their shooting with their service rifles. There are plenty of ranges where they can do this. Shooting competitions are a regular happening.
The swiss take marksmanship very seriously. They shoot out to 300 meters with those Sturmgewehr-94s, and that’s using iron sights, not optics. On swiss ranges, it’s not uncommon to have wine and cheese available, which you’d never see at a range in the US.
It’s true that the swiss gun culture is different than the US. But Switzerland’s gun regulations aren’t particularly burdensome, though they are getting tougher, and firearm ownership is pretty widespread.
http://www.stephenhalbrook.com/articles/swiss_teen_rifle_festival.html
I had been wondering if this new law would have much direct effect (because I had suspected that ammunition would be available for purchase). I agree that the citizen disarmament bed-wetters scored against the good guys, but they haven’t scored much.
I think the bigger problem for Swiss gun rights in the future is their integration into the EU.
Their integration into the EU is a horrible mistake for the Swiss. It will deny them the autonomy they have always enjoyed and it is unnecessary.
They hold the keys to all the stolen fortunes of the leaders of the other members of the EU. I cannot imagine a scenario where these leaders would propose punishing their secret bankers and their personal stashes under the bankers’ care.