Shung
Member
As you might know, my country (Switzerland) has a long military and gun tradition..
For more than 60 years now, "milita soldiers" are issued a rifle (or a handgun for officers) from the day they are incorporated in our milita army.. just as all the rest of their gear.. And we keep it at home in between each yearly course.
It's a great tradition, and illustrate how in this country, the oldest european democracy, the people is the country, and the people IS the army.
Of course, this has a price.. Suicides happends with issued rifle, and even worse, it happends that some scumbag use his issued gun to commit a crime, most of the time passionate crimes..
Personally, I think this is the price of a free country, and of a freedom.. I'd rather see such sad things happend but know that our country still trust his men to bear arms, instead of treating all of us like children, letting us work on 30 millions dollars fighter jets during our duty, but not trust us with a gun..
And one could always argue that without guns, those suicides would happend using different means (they are not lacking..) , and still blades cause more crimes than guns in Switzerland..
But the lefty movement in Switzerland and in Europe want to get our guns (privately owned, or issued) banned.. And they will use each and every dramatic event to push their agenda..
3 years ago, a 21 years old Swiss soldier (born in Chile) , the day he ended his "recruit school" (kind of "bootcamp") , went home, took is issued SiG550 (Stg90) and a cartridge he had stolen at the range previously, went on a hill, got prone, and shot a 16 years old girl standing 85 yards away, which was awaiting the bus with her friend.. She was killed instantly.
This event has been the main argument (with one young Swiss iraqi who shot inside a restaurant with his Sig550, wounding 2 people) of the socialists and green parties to call for a vote in Switzerland.. Swiss citizens will have to decide (in a year or two) if they want to maintain the issued rifles at home, the main component of our army system (militia) . If such vote will pass, we will also have big restrictions on private ownership, definately banning the buying of automatic weapons and pump actions (we still try to figure whats wrong with those..) , linking the possession of firearms to an activity and licenses (sport, hunting, collection) and all sort of bans/restrictions..
We all hope that the people will be wise again not to vote the end of this Swiss tradition, but it's hard to fight against liars and people using each and every event at their advantage, most of the time lying on statistics and facts..
But the sadest thing is how our society react to these problems..
That young shooter I was talking about earlier had his trial today, and the prosecutor asked for the max penalty.. which were 20 years in jail..
Well, the judges gave him 17 years (we all still try to figure why he was given 3 years as present..) ...
And soon, the (lefitest) media will emphasis on the "real" guilty part in this dramatic shooting.. That "evil" army gun, that was the cause of the whole crime.. totally forgetting that it was an EVIL PERSON, stealing ammo, aiming and pressing the trigger..
This is how things go in Europe.. The "system" is always clement with the people commiting crimes, and make the rest of us, the "honest" people pay the price of their crime, taking OUR freedoms away.. piece after piece..
Sorry for this long post, but i had to let some pressure away....
For more than 60 years now, "milita soldiers" are issued a rifle (or a handgun for officers) from the day they are incorporated in our milita army.. just as all the rest of their gear.. And we keep it at home in between each yearly course.
It's a great tradition, and illustrate how in this country, the oldest european democracy, the people is the country, and the people IS the army.
Of course, this has a price.. Suicides happends with issued rifle, and even worse, it happends that some scumbag use his issued gun to commit a crime, most of the time passionate crimes..
Personally, I think this is the price of a free country, and of a freedom.. I'd rather see such sad things happend but know that our country still trust his men to bear arms, instead of treating all of us like children, letting us work on 30 millions dollars fighter jets during our duty, but not trust us with a gun..
And one could always argue that without guns, those suicides would happend using different means (they are not lacking..) , and still blades cause more crimes than guns in Switzerland..
But the lefty movement in Switzerland and in Europe want to get our guns (privately owned, or issued) banned.. And they will use each and every dramatic event to push their agenda..
3 years ago, a 21 years old Swiss soldier (born in Chile) , the day he ended his "recruit school" (kind of "bootcamp") , went home, took is issued SiG550 (Stg90) and a cartridge he had stolen at the range previously, went on a hill, got prone, and shot a 16 years old girl standing 85 yards away, which was awaiting the bus with her friend.. She was killed instantly.
This event has been the main argument (with one young Swiss iraqi who shot inside a restaurant with his Sig550, wounding 2 people) of the socialists and green parties to call for a vote in Switzerland.. Swiss citizens will have to decide (in a year or two) if they want to maintain the issued rifles at home, the main component of our army system (militia) . If such vote will pass, we will also have big restrictions on private ownership, definately banning the buying of automatic weapons and pump actions (we still try to figure whats wrong with those..) , linking the possession of firearms to an activity and licenses (sport, hunting, collection) and all sort of bans/restrictions..
We all hope that the people will be wise again not to vote the end of this Swiss tradition, but it's hard to fight against liars and people using each and every event at their advantage, most of the time lying on statistics and facts..
But the sadest thing is how our society react to these problems..
That young shooter I was talking about earlier had his trial today, and the prosecutor asked for the max penalty.. which were 20 years in jail..
Well, the judges gave him 17 years (we all still try to figure why he was given 3 years as present..) ...
And soon, the (lefitest) media will emphasis on the "real" guilty part in this dramatic shooting.. That "evil" army gun, that was the cause of the whole crime.. totally forgetting that it was an EVIL PERSON, stealing ammo, aiming and pressing the trigger..
This is how things go in Europe.. The "system" is always clement with the people commiting crimes, and make the rest of us, the "honest" people pay the price of their crime, taking OUR freedoms away.. piece after piece..
Sorry for this long post, but i had to let some pressure away....
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