Off game topic: Are Swiss citizens allowed to keep heavy machine guns at private houses ?

[MOMO & YUNA]

My dad went to stay in Switzerland in 1994. He told me that he lived with a friend who was a taxi driver. One day my dad found a heavy machine gun under the bed where he slept (the kind of heavy machine guns that the bullets are not in a magazine but rather in a box, i don't know how to call it) and it's so heavy that my dad could not handle it by one hand. He was startled and thought that his friend was a terrorist. Not only that, the balcony had a full crate of bullets.

He asked the friend how and why on earth the heavy machine gun laying under the bed he slept. The friend replied that it's a normal practice there where the government issued weapons to its citizens to keep at home. He added that he took the gun to practice at a firing range every month.

I am sure my dad told me what he saw exactly, but what i don't understand is the friend's statement about the government issued weapons for citizens' houses. Is that statement true ? At that time ? or even now ? If true, then why ?

I am sorry for this off game topic but i am very curious and i dont know where else to ask.

[Misty]

ask at your local police station not a gaming site

[Vitdom]

Even if this was true, weapons and ammunition should at all times be kept locked inside a gun safe. This is clearly illegal.

Here in Sweden, it is normal practice for participants of the Home Guard to be issued 7.62/5.56 mm Ak 4(G3A3) / Ak 5(FN FNC) assault rifles and keep them at home together with full personal military gear. Ammunition will be supplied in emergencies.

[Tajin]

Switzerland is neutral, don't mess with them. ;)

[Sablerno]

Swiss Weapon laws are actually very interesting. When a Swiss Citizen finishes his service he is allowed to take his service weapon with him home, in other words, he recieves the service rifle. When it comes to machine guns i'm not too sure but switzerland are very open to weapons. There is also a very famous (maybe not true) quote from world war II.

The nazis threatened to invaide switzerland throught diplomatic means. That is, the German Ambassador told the swisss ambassador that he would overrun switzerlands 1 million citizens with 2 million troops. The Swiss ambassador, unbashed, replied with a quip something along the lines of "I will instruct my citizens to go to the border and shoot twice"

[MOMO & YUNA]

So does this mean that if Switzerland is invaded, then all the citizens will spring out with assault rifles and machine guns ? Wow, god bless the invader then. The city cannot be captured.

[Sablerno]

I guess?

[[THC] McGeady]

@=3SFG= Sablerno - about the first part: it's totally true what ur sayin. Though, nowadays as a soldier just getting off service, u got to proof that u been part of every yearly official shooting practice event by the army - if you cannot handle the gun, you're simply not allowed to take it home after your service.

The 'Machine Gun' Momo is talking about might have been the Sturmgewehr 1957 - the old assault rifle being handed out to servicemen until 1991 (more or less). it's not a machine gun, it's just a huge&heavy old gun. it's been replaced by the Sturmgewehr90, a much smaller rifle with plastic components - that makes it much easier to handle out in the battlefields of ...damn why are we using them anyway ??? :)

check these pics if ye like:
https://www.armeeforum.ch/uploads/monthly_2017_03/DSC04028.JPG.f8a814f451f60645178e9867a3340859.JPG
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Stgw_90.jpg

Any other weapons are not allowed to keep after service, exept of officers pistols and the swiss army knife of course.

may the spoon and the fork be with you :)

[MOMO & YUNA]

引用自 +CH O'Fallegher：

@=3SFG= Sablerno - about the first part: it's totally true what ur sayin. Though, nowadays as a soldier just getting off service, u got to proof that u been part of every yearly official shooting practice event by the army - if you cannot handle the gun, you're simply not allowed to take it home after your service.

The 'Machine Gun' Momo is talking about might have been the Sturmgewehr 1957 - the old assault rifle being handed out to servicemen until 1991 (more or less). it's not a machine gun, it's just a huge&heavy old gun. it's been replaced by the Sturmgewehr90, a much smaller rifle with plastic components - that makes it much easier to handle out in the battlefields of ...damn why are we using them anyway ??? :)

check these pics if ye like:
https://www.armeeforum.ch/uploads/monthly_2017_03/DSC04028.JPG.f8a814f451f60645178e9867a3340859.JPG
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Stgw_90.jpg

Any other weapons are not allowed to keep after service, exept of officers pistols and the swiss army knife of course.

may the spoon and the fork be with you :)

My dad said yes it was the one in the first photo. Thanks for the clarity. And can theese people pass down the weapons to their next of kin or children when they pass away ? How do they do with the weapons when the original service men pass away ?

[[THC] McGeady]

引用自 author：

And can theese people pass down the weapons to their next of kin or children when they pass away ?

I honestly have no clue.

引用自 author：

How do they do with the weapons when the original service men pass away ?

Most guns, so I think, get sent back to the army after a few years, because there is absolutely no use for them; you can't use them for hunting, every wife on earth hates guns anyway and nobody wants to collect all the rifles of all your dead uncles etc. unless you are a professional weapon-dealer :)

[MOMO & YUNA]

引用自 Unimaginative Profile Name：

They keep their service weapon but they don't get to keep ammunition at home. At least thats what a documentery said.

My dad saw a big crate full of bullets in the balcony.

[MOMO & YUNA]

How do they make sure that these weapons don't get smuggled into the black market ? Or someone won't wield them in a bank ? Or if someone is mad at his neighbor and grab one of these weapons to settle the score ?

I am sure Swiss people are very honest and well respected, well disciplined, but how do they make sure these weapons won't get into wrong hands.

I have no objection with this policy if it's what been keeping the country safe. I am just curious how they control it.

[Sablerno]

引用自 MOMO & YUNA：

How do they make sure that these weapons don't get smuggled into the black market ? Or someone won't wield them in a bank ? Or if someone is mad at his neighbor and grab one of these weapons to settle the score ?

I am sure Swiss people are very honest and well respected, well disciplined, but how do they make sure these weapons won't get into wrong hands.

I have no objection with this policy if it's what been keeping the country safe. I am just curious how they control it.

Like they do it with every weapon in real life i'd guess. Each Weapon have a service number which connects to it's owner What's said earlier in the post is that the holder need to do a shooting test once a year or something between those lines to make sure he is fit to have the weapon. People which have a mental-illness or signs of one will most likely also lose their guns.

[Coldzero]

I worked with a Swiss guy years ago (about 20 years) and he said they keep their weapons at home when they are doing their national service, they all have to spend time in the Army. He also said he had a freind that owned an Uzi (legally apparently?) and they went up to the mountains on a regular basis to practice shooting it - but soon whent off the idea when it was left on full auto one day and they nearly lost control of the recoil and hit some buildings down a valley.

How true this is i dont know, he seemed a pretty straight up guy but was a work colleague on temp secondment to the UK branch of a Swiss conpany I worked for so who knows....could of been full of BS for all i know, seemed legit though and we were regular drinking buddies.

So what you saw seems entirely possible.

[Davie]

引用自 Coldzero：

You can own a UZI legally in most U.S. States. Just not full auto versions.

[Coldzero]

引用自 Davemaster：

引用自 Coldzero：

I worked with a Swiss guy years ago (about 20 years) and he said they keep their weapons at home when they are doing their national service, they all have to spend time in the Army. He also said he had a freind that owned an Uzi (legally apparently?) and they went up to the mountains on a regular basis to practice shooting it - but soon whent off the idea when it was left on full auto one day and they nearly lost control of the recoil and hit some buildings down a valley.

How true this is i dont know, he seemed a pretty straight up guy but was a work colleague on temp secondment to the UK branch of a Swiss conpany I worked for so who knows....could of been full of BS for all i know, seemed legit though and we were regular drinking buddies.

So what you saw seems entirely possible.

You can own a UZI legally in most U.S. States. Just not full auto versions.

Indeed mate, just wouldnt expect it in Switzeralnd though.