Switzerland

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The Swiss Join Team Glock

May 4, 2011 by

Back in mid-March, I reported a story that the Swiss Army was considering switching their service pistol from Sig Sauer to Glock. According to the news release from Glock, they have made the decision to switch to Glock 17’s and Glock 26’s. Both of these will be the Gen4 versions.


Swiss Army Selects Glock As New Service Pistol

Smyrna, GA – Today, GLOCK Ges.m.b.H. located in Deutsch-Wagram, Austria, announced that the Swiss Army has chosen GLOCK as the new service pistol for the Swiss Army Special Forces. The evaluation process was conducted by three independent elements of the Swiss Army: The Army Reconnaissance 10 (AAD 10: Armee AufklÄrungsdetachement), a specialized unit of the Swiss Army (Special Forces) and the Swiss Military Security Agency (MilSich) tested the capabilities and efficiencies of the GLOCK pistol in the field of operations, while the technical evaluation was handled by the national evaluation and procurement agency “armasuisse”.

The GLOCK Pistol models ultimately selected were the GLOCK 17 Gen4 and GLOCK 26 Gen4 9×19 semi automatic pistols, as well as the Blue GLOCK Training pistol, the GLOCK 17T Gen4 and GLOCK 26T Gen4 which will have the ability to fire both FX and ATK Force on Force marking ammunition.

The Swiss Army began their search for a new duty pistol in 2009, in hopes of finding a firearm that would provide greater soldier superiority and survivability in battle, lighter carry weight, simplicity of use under stress and uncomplicated maintenance. GLOCK pistols excelled during field testing as the Army found them superior in ease of handling which provided evaluators superior capability to score hits during target acquisition drills.

Initially, several suppliers were invited to provide pistols and accessories. With this decision, initial orders in 2012 will go to supply the Swiss Special Forces units, provided the Swiss Parliament has approved the proposed budget.

“GLOCK is very proud to have been competitively chosen by the Swiss Army over all other competition,” said GLOCK Vice President Josh Dorsey. “GLOCK was chosen for this project due to the reliability and durability that have made GLOCK pistols famous. GLOCK’s focus remains on providing safe, simple and fast pistols to those that go in harm’s way. Our firearms are designed for these individuals to succeed and survive in any situation.”

The first round of GLOCK pistols will be issued to replace the existing SIG 220 and SIG Pro pistols being de-commissioned.

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Say It Ain’t So!

March 15, 2011 by 3 Comments

In news that will make any Glock fanboy happy, the GearScout blog is reporting rumors from IWA (the European equivalent of the SHOT Show) that the Swiss Army will be replacing their Pistole 75 (Sig 220) and Pistole 03 (SigPro 2022?) with Glock 17’s and 19’s.

I have no idea what this will mean for the Swiss armaments industry but they can’t be too happy if they are being replaced by the Austrian-made Glock.

The Pistole 75 and Pistole 03 are pictured below.

Swiss Pistole 75
Swiss Pistole 03
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Nein! Non! No! Na!

February 13, 2011 by 5 Comments

Switzerland is a quad-lingual country if you count the infrequently spoken Romansch. The other official languages are German, French, and Italian.

Regardless of the language, the voters of Switzerland have said “No” in today’s referendum to greater gun control.

Pro-gun campaign poster in Switzerland.

A bit over 56% of the Swiss voters rejected attempts by a coalition of the Green Party, unions, pacifists, church groups, and NGO’s to force military weapons to be kept in armories. The referendum would have also created a gun registry and banned the sale of both full auto weapons and pump-action rifles.

A overwhelming majority of the cantons – 20 out of 26 – were won by the pro-gun vote in this referendum. For a referendum to pass in Switzerland, both a majority of the cantons and a majority of the votes must be for it.

Here is how the AP reported the results of the vote.

Neutral Switzerland is among the best-armed nations in the world, with more guns per capita than almost any other country except the United States, Finland and Yemen.

At least 2.3 million weapons lie stashed in basements, cupboards and lofts in this country of less than 8 million people, according to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey.

On Sunday, Swiss voters made sure it stays that way, rejecting a proposal to tighten the peaceful Alpine nation’s relaxed firearms laws.

While gun rights forces won today, I think Sebastian is right that the anti’s will be back. The membership of gun clubs is aging and younger voters were more likely to have voted for the gun restrictions proposed in the referendum.

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Stephen Halbrook On The Swiss And Guns

February 2, 2011 by

Switzerland will be voting on February 15th on a proposal to ban firearms in the home. Currently, the country has one of the best gun laws in the world and every Swiss man who belongs to the Swiss Army keeps his service rifle and ammunition at home. The Swiss Rifles website has more on the Swiss tradition of riflery as well as the threat to Swiss gun rights.

Cam and Company featured an interview with attorney and scholar Stephen Halbrook on Switzerland and their tradition of gun ownership.