The Swiss love their guns

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I shot at a couple of ranges when I visited Switzerland in the 1990's. It was quite a pleasure, and the poster above is right, all of the ranges I went to served beer and guys were shooting and drinking all day long....safely...so remember when you chastise your fellow American shooters for drinking and shooting, it's essentially saying they can't abide by the habits of the Swiss without hurting themselves....making Swiss shooters smarter I guess. Me? I can drink and shoot, but I'm German so it follows. We can do advanced math while drunk. :neener:

Anywho, I spy a bunch of Stg90's, a PE-57 and the K-31 of course in the photos. The pistols used in competition there are often Sig210's, and very fine pistols they are.
 
The American attitude toward alcohol is just silly.

I think it's excellent that they can get 146,000 participants. We should do the same. The government should give tax breaks to those who pass a qualification course as incentive to participate in "national security".
 
What A Great Deal!

"After discharge from service, the man is given a bolt rifle free from registration or obligation. Starting in the 1994, the government will give ex-reservists assault rifles. Officers carry pistols rather than rifles and are given their pistols the end of their service.

When the government adopts a new infantry rifle, it sells the old ones to the public."

http://pages.prodigy.net/vanhooser/the_swiss_and_their_guns.htm

" In a nation of six million people, there are at least two million guns, including 600,000 fully automatic assault rifles, half a million pistols, and numerous machine guns. Virtually every home has a gun."

Be still my heart! :O)
 
haha, mustanger.... You seem to imply that I don't need to think about money! I live on $1200.00 a month man, so I can understand the need to economize. I didn't mean to go out and spend the electric bill on the thing, just to stop thinking and buy one when you can afford it.
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Timbokhan, no, not really. I just realize some of us have more money than others. What I keep thinking is "when I get the money".:D
 
May I remind you that the Swiss have a true national militia. Almost every responsible business person is a member of that militia. They are expected to be able to shoot . They are even issued military weapons to take home. The kicker is that the military ammo for those weapons is in sealed cans and must remain so until otherwise ordered.

The country is both armed and mined to the teeth. They maintained their neutrality by being ready to drop the bridges through the passrd at a moment's notice. ( They haven't forgotten Napoleon) Their air force isn't so hot which is why we ended up paying them about 18M after WW2 for stupid stunts like bombing Zurich, etc.
 
The ammo that the Swiss government issues to all adult males is sealed and only to be used in times of war or state emergency. However, the Swiss government subsidise the production and sale of military type ammunition to Swiss civillians and militia members alike (and also to foreigners like myself). In other words, shooting is dead cheap there.
 
<sniff><sniff>

now, that about makes me cry. All those people, it looks like a county fair. It makes me so happy, I want to become a Swiss.

I think I'll buy a new gun today to celebrate.
 
People think I'm jokeing... I'm moveing to Switzerland when I get of of the Marine Corps.
 
Just out of curiousity what does it take to become a Swiss Citizen and do you get to bring your guns with you?
 
From what I'm told the Swiss are very strict about who they let in their country. That could be wrong though.
 
The Swiss are very strict about immigrants but if you're middle class and from a western country like the USA it shouldn't be a problem. If you're an illiterate peasant from Pakistan, forget it.

As I see it, there are four main problems with Switzerland, which makes the USA better in my opinion:

1) Full-auto is legal to own, but not to transfer (except by police and military etc) so you have to find one to rent or borrow a friend's who has had one since before the ban. In the USA you can still transfer pre-1986 machineguns.

2) CCW is not usually legal in Switzerland (some places allow it, officially or unofficially, but most do not). Most places in the USA allow CCW officially.

3) Most shooting ranges are very nice (covered firing points, electronic scoring etc) but are pretty much geared towards the more sedatory disciplines (Olympic pistol shooting, 400 yard rifle etc). If this is what you like then that's great, these ranges are in every town. But finding places to do three gun, practical pistol, skeet, service rifle etc is a bit more difficult than in the USA I suspect.

4) Although Swiss guns and ammo are dead cheap, foreign guns and ammo will be more expensive than in the USA. Since there is such a huge supply of brilliant rifles and pistols like the SIG 550 and SIG P210, the Swiss tend to stick with those - you won't see any SKSs in Switzerland! Some Swiss do buy foreign guns too (HKs, ARs, 1911s etc), and obviously they use the usual CZs and Remingtons and so on for hunting, but the majority of target shooters stick with Swiss.
 
But if fully automatic weapons were legal here than everyone would want one! And if 146,000 people got togther to shoot a match than there would be mass chaos! Or not.
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But they are legal here: I shot two today. And they were both suppressed :cool:. And privately owned, to boot.
 
I'm going to Berne,Switzerland in Easter Week in March.Guess I'll have to leave my Glock 36 at home.But still looking forward very much to seeing this historic area and talking to the residents about their gun heritage.
 
I read several articles recently reporting that the Swiss government, over the
vehement objections of local government, passed a law that essentially prohibits private citizens from keeping ammunition in their homes. So while it appears you can own full auto military weapons in Switzerland you can no longer actually use them without jumping through hoops to acquire ammo.
 
Duel?

. . . duel citizenship . . .
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Sorry, man, but in the context of this thread, that's priceless.

You may have meant "dual" citizenship, but I like it the way you wrote it better.

:D
 
passed a law that essentially prohibits private citizens from keeping ammunition in their homes
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Adult males are issued ammunition as part of their militia kit. Now, this ammunition will be kept at local militia stores, not at home. Privately bought ammunition can still be stored at home.

So while it appears you can own full auto military weapons in Switzerland
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For new guns, only if you are serving in the militia. Once you leave the militia you can choose to keep your service rifle but you must pay for it to have its full-auto capability removed. Full-auto weapons other than those in service with the militia were banned a while back, but those already owned were grandfathered. You can still shoot full-auto MP5s and such on private Swiss ranges, but you cannot buy these guns any more.

according to this,firearms other than Swiss made are either not approved or highly regulated
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Most of the ranges in Switzerland are run by the government and these ranges only allow Swiss military rifles (K31, Stgw. 57 and Stgw. 90). Privately owned ranges have their own rules which usually means you can shoot anything that can be safely shot on that range e.g. Stgw. 90, AR15, M1A etc.

I'm going to Berne,Switzerland in Easter Week in March.Guess I'll have to leave my Glock 36 at home
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You can bring firearms in but you will need a foreigners gun permit and some other stuff. The rules have changed since I took my guns there, I believe, so you'll have to find out what needs doing I'm afraid.
 
if anybody can find working links to the original links featuring photos repost them please,there are certain people I'd like to show them to.
 
Devil,
Why would they roll their eyes at a Garand? I know I would bring my old 91/30 and they would probably sneer at me. When I would do a sub MOA group at 400 yards, they would probably stop sneering. I would how they would react to the Barrett Model 99?
-bix
 
Because they are a bunch of traditionalists.
You shoot swiss ordonance because that's what counts for the official shootings. (which I rarely go)
Anything else is, well... "eye roll" :eek:
(I didn't score high with the garand, but I had my fun :D)

Anyway that's what I got private shooting cellars for, there you can shoot whatever you want. :)
 
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