“PRO Deo et Patria”, “For God and Country”, is painted over the entrance of the Arquebuse shooting club. Members arrive clutching ear-protectors. A few carry backpacks with rifle barrels poking out. Gunfire echoes from the building, as pistols are fired on 25-metre and 50-metre ranges. Those with rifles pick out targets 300 metres away.
Since 1474 Geneva’s male residents, obliged to defend the city, have met for regular weapons practice here. Jacques Vo-Thanh, smoking outside after training, says guns are “embedded in the social life”. Though membership has declined, he estimates the club has 500 regulars and 2,000 retired members. Children as young as ten may learn to shoot. The government subsidises ammunition.
Pro-gun types in America have long pointed to Switzerland as a country with supposedly lax rules, widespread ownership of arms, proud hunting and shooting cultures and few resulting criminal problems. As of late last century some 40% of Swiss households had a weapon, usually a military-issue rifle or pistol in...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/2GdDKzL
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