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Tighter Gun Laws Approved by Swiss Voters Despite Opposition

posted by janrinok on Thursday May 23 2019, @02:39PM   Printer-friendly
from the urban-rural-divide dept.

saturnalia0 writes:

Swiss voters on Sunday approved a measure to tighten the Alpine nation's gun laws, bringing the country in line with many of its European partners despite the objections of local gun owners, Swiss media reported, citing official results.

Switzerland's public broadcaster said more than 63% of voters nationwide agreed to align with European Union firearms rules adopted two years ago after deadly attacks in France, Belgium, Germany and Britain.

The vote Sunday was part of Switzerland's regular referendums that give citizens a direct say in policymaking. It had stoked passions in a country with long, proud traditions of gun ownership and sport and target shooting. Switzerland, unlike many other European nations, allows veterans of its obligatory military service for men to take home their service weapons after tours of duty.

The Swiss proposal, among other things, requires 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. Gun owners would have to register any weapons not already registered within three years, and keep a registry of their gun collections.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/05/19/tighter-gun-laws-appear-pass-switzerland-despite-opposition/3731629002/

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 24 2019, @02:02AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 24 2019, @02:02AM (#846886)

    Not quite so over the span of history. Britain experienced a steep drop in violent crime with the introduction of the wheel-lock and an even greater drop with the introduction of the cheap flintlock (*). Since ending the English right to bear arms in the early 1900s, murder has crept up and assaults have exploded -- as in 200x or more.

    Let me find the citation:

    Carlisle Moody: overview: https://billlawrenceonline.com/carlisle-moody-handguns-stop-murders/ [billlawrenceonline.com]
    Actual study: http://economics.wm.edu/wp/cwm_wp158.pdf [wm.edu]

    It makes sense when you think about it. Before firearms, the average 40 or 50 year old stood no chance against a hulked up 19 year old with nothing but fists, a stick or a knife. After the gun, the playing field was leveled and even if the ruffian also carried a gun, it was still a mere even fight. Take away the guns, and the thugs get free pickings -- just look at Britain and the change in assault rates: 2.39/100k in 1920, to 419.29/100k in 1999.

    (*) From the study itself:

    The same inventory lists three carbines valued at two pounds, so that a carbine is worth about 13 shillings, implying that the pistols were valued at just under 13 shillings per pair. This translates to £85 or $129 in 2010 dollars which implies that ordinary flintlock pistols were very affordable by today’s standards. The median price is 20 shillings or $207 in 2010 dollars, well below the price of most handguns today. A farm laborer in 1672 earned 10 pence per day. (Clark, no date, p. 26) The worker could buy a 13 shilling pair of pistols from the Duke’s estate with 16 day’s wages. In 1664 a foot soldier was paid 18 pence a day (Malcolm 2002, p.49.). He could buy a pair of pistols with two weeks wages.