Rip Van Winkle wrote:The EU laws, aimed at fighting terrorism, restrict certain types of guns, such as semi-automatic weapons and firearms with high-capacity magazines.
The Swiss government has said that after securing compromises from Brussels it adopted a reform package that both addresses EU concerns and safeguards national traditions.
Interesting. I wonder what the "compromise" was.
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/parliament_compromise-on-eu-weapons-regulations-wins-approval/44410208Compromise on EU weapons regulations wins approvalParliament has agreed to amend the Swiss gun law in line with regulations by the European Union aimed at preventing terrorist attacks and illegal arms trade.
The Senate on Wednesday approved plans to tighten rules for the acquisition and ownership of magazines for semi-automatic weapons and for measures to improve the tracking of arms components.
However, the amendment foresees exemptions, taking into account the tradition of the Swiss militia army – where members may take home their standard-issue arms after the end of the mandatory military service – and the tradition of shooting competitions.
Somewhat lacking in detail - which would have had be opposing it, as well, on general principles.
Wikipedia has more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Switzerland#EU_Gun_BanA 2017 amendment to the EU Firearms Directive, known as the "EU Gun Ban", introduces new restrictions on firearms possession and acquisition, especially on semi-automatic firearms, personal defense weapons, magazine capacity, blank firing guns and historical firearms. The restrictions must be introduced into the Swiss legal system by August 2018 due to its membership of the Schengen area.
The Directive also includes an exemption covering a specific Swiss issue – it allows possession to a target shooter of one firearm used during the mandatory military period after leaving the army, provided it was converted to semi-automatic only (art. 6(6) of the Amendment Directive). This part of the Directive specifically was however challenged by the Czech Republic before the European Court of Justice due to its discriminatory nature. The Czech Republic seeks nullification of the "Swiss exemption" as well as of other parts of the Directive.
Civil rights organizations plan to hold a referendum to reject the recent EU directive. According to Swiss People's Party vice-president Christoph Blocher, Switzerland should consider abandoning EU's borderless Schengen Area if the Swiss people reject the proposed measures in a referendum.
So, they'll let you keep one gun, so it's not really a ban.
