Swiss lessons in gun control

The Swiss just lost some of their gun rights for the sake of convenience. Let's learn from what happened there, so the same doesn't happen here.

Switzerland may have the best gun laws in Europe. Or used to, anyway. Earlier this year, the Swiss government approved tighter gun controls to comply with new European Schengen Area rules. (The Schengen Area allows passport-free travel between countries.) Swiss gun owners were not pleased. They collected enough signatures to trigger a referendum to reject the new gun controls. The vote was held a few days ago, on May 19. Swiss gun owners lost by a large margin. American gun owners should learn from what happened.

Historically, "Swiss citizens and permanent residents over the age of 18 can purchase a gun in Switzerland, but they must first apply for a permit and present a copy of their criminal record." That is remarkably similar to gun laws in the United States, especially in jurisdictions that require permits. According to federal law, you must be at least 18 to purchase a long gun in the United States (at least 21 to purchase a handgun). You must present a photo ID, complete an ATF Form 4473 Firearm Transaction Record and successfully undergo an FBI NICS criminal background check. While some Americans feel these protocols are inadequate to preventing criminal use of firearms, the similar Swiss protocols are reportedly quite effective. "Switzerland has a low rate of gun crime, and hasn’t seen a mass shooting since 2001," according to The Atlantic. But the history of firearm ownership was not the motivation behind the Swiss vote, the future of travel was.

Here is how Swiss law is changing (DW):

• The EU directive bans certain semi-automatic firearms, although Switzerland secured some exemptions.
• Swiss gun owners will need to secure a special permit to buy semi-automatic weapons in the future.
• They will also have to prove that they are either a member of a gun club or that they regularly practice sport shooting.
• Military service firearms, which some choose to keep at home, are exempt from the EU rules.
• The EU will review its weapons rules every five years and could make further changes.

Further, "Ownership of semi-automatic weapons [by persons with an exception or a permit] will now require regular training on the use of firearms and a serial numbering of major parts of some guns to help track them." (Switzerland already requires registration of all firearms purchased after December 2008.)

Lesson 1

When gun rights were pitted against convenience, voters picked convenience. "Gun rights proponents complained the rules could disarm law-abiding citizens and encroach on Switzerland’s heritage and national identity, which includes a well-armed citizenry." (BBC). However, the Swiss government said "Approving the new gun legislation was crucial to maintaining warm relations with the EU and a “No” could threaten that". Supporters of the new legislation warned that Switzerland "could fall out of the open-border Schengen area if it does not change its gun laws — prompting serious backups at its borders and potential consequences for its economy and tourism industry."

It seems unlikely Switzerland would have been excluded from the Schengen Area. Even if the referendum had overturned the new law, the Swiss government would have had "90 days to find a compromise with the EU and other Schengen area members." Yet the threat seemed to be effective. "Operation Libero, a campaign movement in Switzerland, says the potential consequences of no longer being in the Schengen area far outweigh the impact on gun owners." One Swiss citizen was quoted saying, "To me, the new obligations linked to the possession of guns are not that restrictive, while the risk of not being able to benefit from Schengen’s advantages are very real."

Gun rights have to be something that people value existentially – more than worldly convenience – because it is easy for politicians to make life inconvenient. The right to self-defense must be understood as essential and inviolable, or it is subject to tradeoff-based encroachment.

Lesson 2

This was not about overwhelming majorities, this was about mobilizing minorities. The media reported a crushing defeat for gun rights, with bylines like: "Swiss voters agreed by a nearly two-to-one margin on Sunday to adopt tighter gun controls in line with changes to European Union rules, heading off a clash with Brussels." (Reuters) The exact split was 63.7% voting for gun controls to preserve convenience of travel versus 36.3% voting against gun controls to risk convenience of travel.

However, there was only 43% voter turnout. That means only 27.4% of eligible voters chose convenience of travel, and only 15.6% of eligible voters chose gun rights. For an issue of such national importance, these don't seem like staggering numbers. It is clear the gun rights bloc was not large enough and/or not motivated enough to resist the threat of burdensome travel.

Gun rights have to be something that people understand broadly, and care about enough to bother casting a ballot. There needs to be an understanding that losing rights, even incrementally, is easy. Regaining them, even incrementally, is hard.

P.S. Switzerland's total civilian firearm holdings are actually smaller than many larger European countries, despite Switzerland's relatively gun-friendly laws. In Europe, the countries with the largest civilian firearm holdings are the Russian Federation, Germany, France, Italy and Ukraine. Globally, the countries with the largest civilian firearm holdings are the United States (by far the world leader), India, China, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Brazil, Mexico and Germany. These figures are according to smallarmssurvey.org.