Swiss soldiers may soon be allowed to keep ammunition at home once more. The Security Policy Committee of the Council of States has voted, by seven to five, to instruct the Federal Council to prepare for the reintroduction of so-called pocket ammunition, citing Europe’s deteriorating security environment, reported SRF.
For decades Switzerland raised eyebrows abroad by letting conscripts store not only their army-issue assault rifles but also a sealed tin of ammunition in their cupboards. The practice was halted in 2007 after a series of suicides and domestic homicides involving military weapons. The government said at the time that if the strategic situation changed, the policy could be revisited.
Werner Salzmann, an SVP/UDC member of the Council of States and long-standing security hawk, pushed for the reversal. The situation has changed, he says. Josef Dittli of the FDP/PLR agrees, arguing that soldiers must be ready to act at short notice. Central ammunition depots are vulnerable in a crisis, he says; quicker access to weapons and ammunition would allow troops to protect critical infrastructure.
Critics are unconvinced. Several studies have linked the presence of military firearms and home-stored ammunition to higher rates of gun deaths. Suicides involving army weapons have fallen since home ammunition was withdrawn. Franziska Roth of the Socialist Party calls the committee’s decision disastrous, accusing the centre-right majority of undoing past safety gains for the sake of an extremely unlikely scenario of fighting on Swiss soil.
Salzmann counters that the drop in gun deaths is largely due to psychological screening introduced in 2007: soldiers deemed unstable are no longer issued weapons. The proposal now goes to the full Council of States—and then to the National Council—before any ammunition tins return to Swiss homes.
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SRF article (in German)
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