Swiss Gun Control

[Ben]

So it appears the Swiss just passed new gun controls due to threats from the EU, which they aren't even a member of. The Swiss have one of the highest gun ownership rates in Europe. It appears the current government fears the EU though. The Swiss govt talking point is, "gun owners will not even notice the restrictions." Which is kinda weird considering the restrictions call for heavily restricting and/or banning auto and semi-auto firearms, and an extremely intrusive electronic monitoring system that send the personal information of every Swiss gun owner to EVERY police entity in the EU.

RKL's meteor really needs to aim for Brussels.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48328867

[Silver Bullet]

Disappointing that the Swiss voters went for that, but I guess better that the voters went for it than the government imposing it without their consent.  I got the idea that the EU was threatening some sort of sanctions if they didn't get in line.

[BobR]

I am sure there was plenty of misinformation put forth about the referendum and many people bought it. Same thing happens here in the US . I used to belong to ProTell, the Swiss gun rights group. Maybe it is time to renew.

bob

[K Frame]

Wonder how long it is until the EU tries this *expletive deleted*it with the United States.

[Ben]

I would guess one of the reasons Swiss voters approved it is the general German culture respect for authority thing. Even if the gov throws out misinformation, the default setting for the culture is to listen to authority.

I'm not sure that the EU would ever try it with the US, or that those pansies would have any kind of stick to threaten us with. The scary part about something like that is how many people in the US (including pretty much the entire gaggle of current dem presidential hopefuls) would jump on it.

[MechAg94]

Didn't Trump just officially unsign the UN Arms Control Treaty?  I figure that was part of it. 

[T.O.M.]

I could see an EU threat happening soon.  Like real soon, bolstered by their success with the Swiss.  Here's why...

Trump isn't a staunch 2A supporter, as we've seen with bump-stocks, etc.  EU threatens a tariff on American goods, especially farm products.  Trump sees it as a threat to the economy, which is his biggest selling point in 2020.  There's already bills being drafted in the House for an assault weapons ban.  Almost every Dem presidential candidate is proposing gun control.  Trump lets it out that he's not opposed to "reasonable restrictions" and "negotiates" with the EU to protect the American farmers, businesses, etc.  Dems introduce an assault weapons ban in the House, Trump signals his support, and Reps in the Senate fall in line with Trump.  The NRA is already in the midst of its own chaos, and doesn't have the political strength to stop it.

Hope I'm wrong, but this was my shower thoughts last night...

[Ron]

Trump is such a wildcard it’s hard to predict where he will end up on 2nd Amendment challenges.

On one hand he is fearless and lays waste to leftist talking points like a boss.

On the other “the art of the deal” may end up being another name for Hegelian dialectic ie Cthulhu always swims to the left.

[Ben]

Hope I'm wrong, but this was my shower thoughts last night...

I agree with your synopsis on what is important to Trump, however I also think his very strong "America First! / Economy First!" personality could outweigh his milquetoast (NRA speeches not withstanding) stance on the 2nd.  

As can be seen anytime a minor celebrity says something negative about him, when someone calls him out, he has a tendency to very much overreact. Were the EU/UN to demand he submit to some type of gun regulation, I think he would take it as a personal attack and take a, "Nobody tells me what to do!" stance. To the point of turning around any threatened EU economic or other sanctions against the US to sanctions against the EU. JMO.

[brimic]

After the 2015 Paris attacks, the EU issued Schengen members with new restrictions on automatic and semi-automatic weapons.

The rules called for:

A ban on weapons capable of rapidly firing multiple rounds
Automatic and semi-automatic weapons to either be banned or heavily restricted
Each owner of such a weapon, and the weapon itself, to be known to police across Europe
All essential weapon components to be clearly labelled and registered electronically

None of these rules would have prevented the Paris attack- they are banning the wrong thing entirely.

[WLJ]

None of these rules would have prevented the Paris attack- they are banning the wrong thing entirely.

Normal for the left and expected. If their solutions actually fixed the actual problems then what problems would they run on to fix?

[brimic]

I had to google schengen.... so in essence, they voted away their guns in order to prevent having to have borders again.
The Swiss are doomed.

[MikeB]

I had to google schengen.... so in essence, they voted away their guns in order to prevent having to have borders again.
The Swiss are doomed.

If I understood correctly what I read about it. Basically the political ads scared the people that weren’t gun owners or their versions of FUDs with potential future inconvenience they would experience. This is not dissimilar from how anti gun campaigns work in the US. Hay it’s just common sense or minimal regulation to trade for convenience/safety. The pro gun groups saw it for what it was, but it’s hard to convince the average person that the “minimal restrictions” really aren’t.

Overall it’s a good example of the need for defined rights that can’t be undone even by votes of the majority. For example the BoR even though our constitution and BoR are often ignored as well.

[p12]

I remember one of these bullshit treaties under Bill Clinton.

I also remember participating in the backlash towards I think Coffey Annon or what ever the jerks name was that was the head of the UN at the time.

He was afraid to come out on the balcony to announce the issue was dead due to fear of being sniped.

I was one of the emailers sending him the tidbit that blue helmets make really good targets.


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[French G.]

I had to google schengen.... so in essence, they voted away their guns in order to prevent having to have borders again.
The Swiss are doomed.

They were pretty screwed when they went off of the gold standard to make eu happy.

[Pb]

Overall it’s a good example of the need for defined rights that can’t be undone even by votes of the majority. For example the BoR even though our constitution and BoR are often ignored as well.

This is not the slightest difference from our rights as well.  Our rights exist only on the votes of a majority of people in the Supreme Court as well.