Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The Battle Over Swiss Firearms

Go here.

http://worldradio.ch/wrs/news/video/staring-down-the-barrel-of-switzerlands-gun-tradit.shtml?14430#

12 comments:

0321 said...

As a Swiss/American citizen, I am at a loss for words. One of the few places that guns were the backbone of their culture, it is now gone with one stroke of a pen.
I remember the sound of gunfire rattling from every valley which had a rifle range on the weekend. Soldiers walking around with Stg 57's were as common as a child with a bookpack. Now the spineless jellyfish of the world are even disarming Switzerland. As we have seen everywhere else, the gun owners don't even resist! They knuckle under and obey. Just walk away with their lower lip quivering and remember the good old days. Welcome to the NWO!

Old Pablo said...

Nice guns in Switzerland! Makes me a little jealous.

Here in the land of the free we have lost the right to certain semi-auto rifles, full auto rifles, .50 BMG rifles, and about a week ago we lost the right to buy ammo through the mail.

And all handguns are registered, there's a 10-day waiting period to buy any and all guns, and all private sales between individuals are banned, too. (This is not a comprehensive list of my infringements.)

I guess I don't live in the land of the free, to be honest. My freedom would improve dramatically if I moved---at least until Obongo becomes Sec-Gen of the UN. Then we will all be roasted.

Good luck with your novel, Mike.

Anonymous said...

Old Pablo, to be clear can you clarify that you likley live in Commiefornia, the land of taxes, gubmint debt and personal restrictions?

Most other states do not have those kinds of restrictions and we regularly have to fight (politically) to keep these God given rights of self defense.

I see many more people joining the fight these days. Continual and persistent activism is what it takes to keep the 'spineless jellyfish' from picking away at our rights.

Bob Katt

Old Pablo said...

Yes, sir, California. Just wanted to let you guys know what was going on here. It has been made clear to me that I am an undesirable person. This kind of virus can spread, though. When the political class fails, when the economy fails (through the actions of the political class)---the answer is more regulation! By gum, we'll get it right this time, just you wait.

Anonymous said...

Ya I was in Switzerland a few years back when the country went off the gold standard. I asked my Swiss friends what they thought about it and they thought it was a great idea.

When I asked about a gun in every household along with the mandatory vault/shelter they said most people would rather just contribute the mandatory tax to the town shelter rather than adding the shelter to a new home.

Oh look! Isn't that your nut sack on the floor?

Their schools must be as good at brainwashing as ours are.

Cory

Crustyrusty said...

Last time I was over there my cousin was griping about the "f***ing communists" taking over; he wanted to move here but had to take over the Gasthof...

rexxhead said...

I remember hearing that during WW-II a high-ranking German official came to Switzerland to talk them into being anschlussed. His Swiss counterpart called for his limo and they took a ride.

"Pick a house," he told his German 'friend'. The German indicated that one. The car stopped and they got out. The Swiss rapped on the door. "Show me your rifle," he told the occupant, at which the homeowner showed him a submachinegun ready to rock-and-roll.

The German got the message: yeah, you can march in here and conquer us, but you're going to do it one house at a time, and when you're finished you'll wonder what happened to your Wehrmacht.

The Germans never raised the issue again.

Anonymous said...

So is it over in Switzerland? Or not just yet?
How far back does this tradition go? Decades? Centuries?
Either way, it has helped keep Switzerland a free nation in times of war. I'm especially thinking of WWII.

RE; the film "Staring Down the Barrel. . .", at about the 1 minute mark, I enjoyed the stickers Mr Heim has in the back of the gun locker. "Fight Crime, Shoot Back". "Where Has A Gun Law reduced Crime?" Pretty much says it all.

As for Mr Schnebli, an activist for Group for Switzerland without an Army; Meet Sarah Brady & all her ilk. A question and a few
observations or three, if I may?

1) If you effectively disarm the Swiss population by having them store their arms at a military post, as you suggest, aren't you just opening up the country for an invasion? I realize it's been a few years since the last European shooting war, but can you afford to take that chance on getting the arms BACK OUT of the centralized lockers & to the people in time to stop any threat?

2) Suicides happen all the time. And yes, any loss is tragic. But 300 out of how many millions of total Swiss population? That seems a very low percentage indeed. What are the numbers and percentages of deaths by other means and methods of suicide? Auto accidents. Slipping in the bathtub. Electrical shock. Hanging. Knives. Falling off a mountain. Rockslides. Etc, etc. It would be interesting to look at MOST of the major causes of death, and not just focus on guns to the exclusion of everything else.

3) The Israelis do pretty much the same thing as the Swiss, as far as "everyone serves time in the military & carries a gun in public." Their very existance as a country and the safety of their people depends on them being able to defend themselves on a moment's notice. They don't seem to have a problem with a large quantity of military arms in the general populace. Why do you?

B Woodman
SSG (Ret) US Army
III-per

Happy D said...

Hey let us see if we can export the Threeper mentality over to Switzerland.
It is only fair our sister republic smuggled critical items to us in
WW II.

III

Anonymous said...

Sad story !

My guess is the root of the swiss loss of freedom -sybolized by their loss of gun freedoms - has a decaying spiritual root beneath it.

It's a 'firm reliance on Divine Providence' - that traces the source of Rights to the only source that doesn't move or shift -God Himself.

[Our Declaration, the finest political statement of Natural & Biblical Law in the world, lays this out succinctly...'men are endowed by their Creator...unlienable rights...Life, Liberty & pursuit of Happiness* (...in 1776, understood to mean 'Virtue', not merely self satisfaction, btw).

It also credits the "laws of Nature & of Nature's God" - that means 'Natual Law & Biblical Law', as sourcing & undergirding them.

Point is, as America has lost - given away or swapped it's Christian Heritage for a mess of potage - a veritable Darwinian stew of moral compromise, lasciviousness & out right evil, we've nearly lost our Gun rights as well.

No Surprise, then that any formerly FREE Christian nation - Switzerland certainly qualifies here, (as do we....) must be losing their Natural & Biblical Law reasoning & public morality, thus the attack upon the key essential right of defense.

I'd be curious to know more about the current state of the Swiss people, to better understand this tragic loss of freedom.

Obviously I pray they - and we - will repent in every way we need to so that God can again be pleased to bless this Land & theirs.

Any nation that refuses to do this, will be turned into Hell, so promise the Scriptures.

What other option is there, when the goodness of God is removed, wholesale, from personal, family & national life ?

Back in 1775, when addressing the Sons of Liberty, my famous namesake, Christian Patriot leader (& brewer !) Samuel Adams, put it like this:

"No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge & virtue are preserved. On the contrary, when people are universally ignorant and debauched in their manners, they will sink under their own weight without the aid of foreign invaders."

God save this & the swiss Republic,


Samuel Adams in Texas

0321 said...

To Sam Adams in Texas: A persons belief in God is a given in Switzerland. But to get up an preach like you just did, they won't even acknowledge you. It's something you don't do! My family is Protestant, they would never dream of imposing their belief on the Catholics. Everyone has learned to keep their mouth shut on religious matters, it's kind of like having sex in public.It's a private thing between you and God, not a public issue. Have you ever noticed the europeans don't bring religion into their political races, it's a no no.
And where did you learn that "Nature's God" = Biblical Law? That's a long shot by Thomas Jefferson's standards. I don't want to turn this into an argument, just pointing out some things are best kept at home. Semper Fidelis

Anonymous said...

Machiavelli wrote in the 1540s that the Swiss were the most armed and the most free in Europe (go to archive.org and download "the Prince" it's an interesting read).

Machiavelli deffinitely made the link between an armed populace and civil freedom. Then as now, there were plenty who would have loved to have the Swiss pay them tribute...

In the comments, there is one about high suicide and gun ownership, err yess, high gun ownership does correlate with a higher frequency of using a gun to commit the act, it does not correlate with overall suicide rate or overall homicide rate - more bullshit put up as "fact"