Soldiers in uniform during a historical reenactment of the Battle of Neuenegg (Canton of Bern), in which the Bernese troops fought against French troops in 1798. © Didier Ruef

On the way to the Valle d'Aosta, on the border with Italy. Re-enactment of Napoleon Bonaparte's second Italian campaign in May 1800. © Didier Ruef

The job of these men is to point out to marksmen 383 meters away where their last shot went into the target. Grimselschiessen Guttannen, Canton Bern. © Didier Ruef

View down the muzzle of a rifle at St. Georges leisure shooting range in Geneva. And a group of participants of the annual Grimsel shooting in Guttannen, Canton Bern. © Didier Ruef

SIG P210 pistol belonging to a member of the Geneva Shooting Club "Les Exercices de l'Arquebuse et de la Navigation". © Didier Ruef

Meeting of the members of the Geneva Shooting Club "Exercices de l'Arquebuse et de la Navigation". In the background, the portraits of the most famous marksmen of the past. © Didier Ruef

A member of the "Tiratori del Gaggio" shooting club in the canton of Ticino checks the cleanliness of the barrel of his "SG 550" assault rifle before reassembling it. © Didier Ruef

Father and son play with with an automatic and semi-automatic SG 550 assault rifle during the "Thun meets Army and Air Force" parade. And a young markswoman waits for her points at the Rütlischiessen in canton Uri. © Didier Ruef

Bullet holes in a target at the Grimsel shooting range in Guttannen, Canton Bern. © Didier Ruef

At the parade "Thun meets Army and Air Force" a boy plays at the Swiss Army stand with a "SIG Sauer Pro Series" pistol. © Didier Ruef

70 targets wait in the snow for participants in the Morgarten shooting ceremony in memory of the Battle of Morgarten in Canton Zug. © Didier Ruef

A shooter fires a carabiner at Morgarten Shooting. In Lugano, Canton Ticino, a hunter carries a backpack with a stuffed chamois and a rifle. © Didier Ruef

A young man tests an "Anschütz air rifle" at the Ruag Ammotec stand in Thun. © Didier Ruef

A man in historical uniform with a long rifle sleeps near the old Great St. Bernard pass road in canton Valais. © Didier Ruef

Shooting is a favourite leisure sport in Switzerland. Its roots date back to the late Middle Ages, but especially the 19th century when shooting became an important part of national identity. But gun lovers fear a new weapons law could spoil their fun.

This content was published on May 4, 2019 - 11:00

Andrea Tognina A historian by training, originally from the Grisons, I am mainly interested in political and social issues. More about the author | Italian Department Didier Ruef (photos) and Andrea Tognina (text)

Swiss shooters and hunters fear that the European weapons directive being put to the vote on May 19 could jeopardise their hobby, even though Bern has managed to negotiate some concessions from Brussels, particularly on army weapons.



Widespread passion

If you have been for a walk in Switzerland you may well have passed near a shooting range or found a civilian with a rifle hanging over his shoulder.

Many Swiss are passionate shooters, and some 130,000 people are registered in the shooting clubs alone. They regard the sporting use of firearms as part of national tradition. Legend has it that the national hero William Tell freed the Swiss from the tyrant Gessler by shooting at a target.

In fact, marksmanship has a close connection to the foundation of the modern Swiss nation-state at the beginning of the 19th century. From the Napoleonic period onwards, marksmen's clubs were very popular. The first Federal Shooting Festival was held in Aarau in 1824. In the following years these festivals and the shooting clubs became an important social space for the nascent liberal movement.

After the emergence of the federal state in 1848 and the introduction of compulsory military service - members of the army also had to complete compulsory shooting exercises outside their service time - new shooting ranges were created throughout the country.

From soldier to leisure shooter

The (male) armed citizen became part of the identity of the young liberal state. Shooting clubs were assigned the task of organizing obligatory shooting exercises for soldiers. This created a strong link between the military and civilian culture of arms.

Even if the typical Swiss republican link between citizen and soldier dwindled in the last decades of the 20th century, the passion for weapons remains widespread in Swiss society to this day. Nevertheless, fewer and fewer ex-soldiers want to keep their service weapons with them even after their service in the armed forces has ended.

All photos in the gallery were taken between 2016 and 2017.



This article was automatically imported from our old content management system. If you see any display errors, please let us know: community-feedback@swissinfo.ch