Voters in Switzerland accepted European Union gun controls Sunday by a two-thirds margin, thereby ushering in changes for a nation rich in gun history.
USA Today reports that the changes will require “regular training on the use of firearms, special waivers to own some semi-automatic weapons and serial number tracking system for key parts of some guns.” Moreover, Swiss gun owners will have to “register any weapons not already registered within three years, and keep a registry of their gun collections.”
Historically speaking, gun registries do not end well for law-abiding citizens who hold views contrary to the zeitgeist of the ruling class.
BBC reports that the EU gun controls came after armed terrorists gunned down 130 innocents in Paris on November 13, 2015. Attacks in Germany, Belgium, and Britain were also cited, but no attacks occurred in Switzerland.
Swiss Shooting Sport Federation’s Luca Filippini criticized the EU controls, saying, “It’s a useless regulation because none of the terrorist attacks that the EU has used to legitimize the tightening of laws has been carried out with a legal weapon,”
Switzerland is not a member of the EU but does enjoy ease-of-travel rules via the Schengen Area. Had voters rejected EU gun controls it was possible Switzerland would have lost the Schengen Area privileges.
BBC says “nearly 48 percent of Swiss households own a gun.” It will be interesting to see how EU gun controls impact ownership.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.