Posted on 09/20/2006 11:51:22 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
A women's magazine has collected 17,400 signatures in a bid to rid Swiss households of hundreds of thousands of weapons.
The petition comes amid discussions in parliament over whether to scrap the country's militia army tradition requiring guns and ammunition to be kept at home.
Staff at Annabelle handed over the signatures to a parliamentary committee in Bern on Tuesday.
The petition, "No weapons at home", is calling for a ban on shotguns at home, for army rifles to be kept in military storage instead of at home and for people not to be able to hold on to army guns after their period of service expires. It is also campaigning for a national weapons register to be created as soon as possible.
Annabelle told swissinfo that it had received a large response to the petition, most of which was supportive.
Guns are firmly entrenched in Swiss culture. All able-bodied Swiss men aged 20-30 are conscripted for about three months and issued with a rifle, to be used only in the event of an alert.
After initial training, the conscripts are required to do three or four weeks of army service every year until they have served a total of 260 days or reached the age of 34.
Throughout this time they keep their rifles and 50 rounds of sealed ammunition at home.
Family murders
The magazine says it launched the petition in response to the increasing number of family murders in Switzerland, most involving women and children being shot by husbands.
In the first half of 2006 there were at least six incidents where a man shot his wife or partner before turning the gun on himself. In a highly publicised case the husband of former women's ski champion Corinne Rey-Bellet killed her and her brother with his army pistol before shooting himself.
Earlier this month the government said family tragedies and suicides are not valid reasons to stop soldiers from keeping their army weapons at home.
Swiss Defence Minister Samuel Schmid argued that Switzerland's militia army needed to be able to mobilise rapidly, "for example to protect airports and railway stations quickly".
On Monday the Senate said it needed time to look into a motion proposed by Anita Fetz, a senator from the centre-left Social Democratic Party, calling for army ammunition to be kept in military storage as opposed to at home. No date was set for any decisions on the motion.
Why are chicks such sissies?
Yup, take the guns away. The husbands will no longer be able to kill the wives and children. They will ignore knives, bats, clubs and the good old fashion bare hands. Nope, get the guns and all will be solved.
WAIT A MINUTE...The SWISS have guns?
In the words of Ambassador Kosh: "And so it begins."
"Swiss Defence Minister Samuel Schmid argued that Switzerland's militia army needed to be able to mobilise rapidly, "for example to protect airports and railway stations quickly"."
"Death from Above" Airborne!
It's the same reason women are more likely to be liberal than not. They're predisposed and taught to "feel" rather than think about something. (No offense intended, lady FReepers - you're obviously not included in this analysis.)
Hello, that statement says it all. More the reason for women to have their own gun.
I am sure this was organized by a muslims womens magazine..... When will people realize rules that they are willing to comply with are the exact ones that others use to Kill the compliant. If people are willing to kill you do you think they will be inhibited by a rule they are not willing to follow?
Yeah...
In fact, the Swiss keep fully-automatic assault rifles at home.
Every single able-bodied man of military age has a military rifle and ammo at home. How long has it been since Switzerland was invaded?
Yeah, I thought so.
Well, being a chick, I don't know. It amazes me what many women I know fall for. They are so easily persuaded.
You'd think the women would petition to have more access to firearms to protect their children and themselves... level the playing field.
And what is thier per-capita crime rate and murder rate???
George soreass again I guess.And I wonder how many of those signatures are legit
Yeah, how do you think they STAY neutral?
The world is becoming more dangerous every day and they want to ban guns.
17,400 signitures...
7,489,370 in the population.
That's.... .2 percent. Point-two percent. 2/10 of one percent.
Gosh, they'd have done better petitioning a NRA rally!
Yeah...
In fact, the Swiss keep fully-automatic assault rifles at home.
_________________________________________________
Dang, aside from shooting at their women and children, they should have spent some time shooting at the Germans.
Yeah, how do you think they STAY neutral?
___________________________________________
Amen to that. I'm sure the Germans didn't want to try and disarm that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.