Another free country falls to gun control. Switzerland votes to heavily restrict gun ownership.

A Swiss person with a handgun. BBC/AFP.

A referendum severely restricting gun rights in Switzerland passed after pressure from the European Union. BBC. 64% of voters approved the new restrictions. The EU had demanded further gun control in the generally liberal and gun loving Switzerland or it risked being kicked out of the EU's Schengen Area, which would have economically devastated the country. The new rules would ban or heavily restrict semi and fully automatic guns. Any owners of such guns would have to register themselves and their weapon to the European Union, including any components of those guns. Nearly half of Swiss households have firearms. 

My Comment:

Utterly disgusting that the Swiss people would stand for this. This was essentially blackmail by the European Union. Switzerland was one of the last places in Europe with anything resembling gun rights. By American standards their gun laws are crap but they are so much better than most gun laws in Europe. And now they are probably done for. 

I don't buy for a second the idea that these gun restrictions were necessary to prevent terrorism. For one thing, Switzerland hasn't had any major terror attacks in recent memory. They did have a single terror plot but that involved poison gas and explosives, not firearms. And the draconian gun laws in places like France, Germany and Belgium did not stop any of the major terror attacks in those countries. Somehow despite these laws terrorists did not have any trouble getting fully automatic Kalashnikovs. 

These laws are to ensure that civilians are disarmed and won't be able to defend themselves from enemies foreign and domestic. Given that Europe is likely heading towards civil war in the next few decades, it's just going to make things that much worse for civilians who will have no way to defend themselves from terror attacks and civil disorder. 

It's unclear exactly how Switzerland's gun laws are going to change. Even the BBC article contradicted itself saying it would ban fully automatic and semiautomatic firearms but at the same time saying that those guns would have to be registered. Other sources are just as unclear but either way it's a major new restriction on gun rights on a formally free country. 

With Switzerland falling there are few countries left in the world that have good gun laws. Other than Pakistan and Yemen, there are no countries that are as free as America. In Europe Czechia and Serbia have comparably good gun laws but they are likely to face the same pressure from the EU as Switzerland. Though some countries have loosened their gun laws, most notably Brazil and Russia, it's clear which way the trend is going. 

It does make me fear that gun rights could be under threat in America as well. Though we have a pro-gun President and a pro-gun Supreme Court, both of those things could change in time. For the short term things are safe but as more countries fall things could get bad for gun rights...