Swiss to vote on tighter gun controls
By ELIANE ENGELER, Associated Press Writer
Tue Feb 24, 1:44 am ET
GENEVA – Switzerland's part-time soldiers traditionally store their guns in the attic, in a cupboard or under the bed. They see it as their honor and duty to keep their weapons close at hand.
But campaigners said Monday they have collected around 120,000 signatures to force a nationwide referendum on whether to confine army weapons to military compounds. They say the proliferation of firearms has led to suicides and homicides throughout the nation, and they want tighter firearms controls.
"Almost every day a person commits suicide with a firearm in Switzerland," said Josef Lang, a lawmaker for the Green Party who is campaigning for the proposal alongside the Social Democrats, rights groups and others.
Service in Switzerland's militia army is compulsory for men, and conscripts have to take their guns home between call-ups.
Nearly a third of respondents in a 2008 poll said they keep at least one military gun at home, said the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich in a report for the country's Defense Ministry.
The proposed changes go beyond a 2007 law that requires military ammunition to be stored on base — a move that was seen by many as the first step to dismantling the guns-at-home tradition. But the left says that is not enough and the risk of misuse of military guns is still too high.
The referendum, for which a date has yet to be set, would also ask voters to decide whether to set up a national firearms register and forbid citizens from buying particularly dangerous guns, such as pump-action rifles or automatic weapons, for personal use.
Anita Fetz, a lawmaker for the Social Democrats, said a register would lead to more security and was worth the cost, which opponents claim would be immense. "Every single car and every cow in Switzerland are registered. Of course that costs something," she said.
The exact number of army rifles and other guns in Swiss homes is unknown. The Defense Ministry estimates that there are about 2.2 million firearms in this nation of 7.5 million people. But the independent Small Arms Survey puts the figure at between 2.3 million and 4.5 million.
Professor Martin Killias, who co-directs the institute for criminology at the University of Zurich, said two-thirds of homes that have guns only have military weapons.
Switzerland's overall suicide rate is comparable to other European countries, according to a study by Killias and researchers of the University of Lausanne. But the proportion of firearm suicides is higher in Switzerland than in many European countries, it said.
Suicide statistics in some Swiss cantons (states) lead to an estimate of around 170 suicides committed with army guns every year in the country, the Swiss Defense Ministry said.
It was unable to provide a figure for homicides with military guns.
By ELIANE ENGELER, Associated Press Writer
Tue Feb 24, 1:44 am ET
GENEVA – Switzerland's part-time soldiers traditionally store their guns in the attic, in a cupboard or under the bed. They see it as their honor and duty to keep their weapons close at hand.
But campaigners said Monday they have collected around 120,000 signatures to force a nationwide referendum on whether to confine army weapons to military compounds. They say the proliferation of firearms has led to suicides and homicides throughout the nation, and they want tighter firearms controls.
"Almost every day a person commits suicide with a firearm in Switzerland," said Josef Lang, a lawmaker for the Green Party who is campaigning for the proposal alongside the Social Democrats, rights groups and others.
Service in Switzerland's militia army is compulsory for men, and conscripts have to take their guns home between call-ups.
Nearly a third of respondents in a 2008 poll said they keep at least one military gun at home, said the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich in a report for the country's Defense Ministry.
The proposed changes go beyond a 2007 law that requires military ammunition to be stored on base — a move that was seen by many as the first step to dismantling the guns-at-home tradition. But the left says that is not enough and the risk of misuse of military guns is still too high.
The referendum, for which a date has yet to be set, would also ask voters to decide whether to set up a national firearms register and forbid citizens from buying particularly dangerous guns, such as pump-action rifles or automatic weapons, for personal use.
Anita Fetz, a lawmaker for the Social Democrats, said a register would lead to more security and was worth the cost, which opponents claim would be immense. "Every single car and every cow in Switzerland are registered. Of course that costs something," she said.
The exact number of army rifles and other guns in Swiss homes is unknown. The Defense Ministry estimates that there are about 2.2 million firearms in this nation of 7.5 million people. But the independent Small Arms Survey puts the figure at between 2.3 million and 4.5 million.
Professor Martin Killias, who co-directs the institute for criminology at the University of Zurich, said two-thirds of homes that have guns only have military weapons.
Switzerland's overall suicide rate is comparable to other European countries, according to a study by Killias and researchers of the University of Lausanne. But the proportion of firearm suicides is higher in Switzerland than in many European countries, it said.
Suicide statistics in some Swiss cantons (states) lead to an estimate of around 170 suicides committed with army guns every year in the country, the Swiss Defense Ministry said.
It was unable to provide a figure for homicides with military guns.
