Switzerland is a very interesting country when compared to its neighbors in Europe. Switzerland has maintained a neutral position among any wars or conflict which has kept them out of any wars since the time of Napoleon. However, you might be surprised to find out that Switzerland has the second biggest army (soldiers per capita) only trailing Israel. They require every eligible male age 18-42 to serve in the military in order to preserve themselves against foreign aggression. This has also led to some very loose gun laws compared to any other European country, in order to accommodate the fact that so many people are part of the militia.

This required service in the militia comes with the rules that each person must remain in reserve capacity until the age of 30. During this time, each male is required to keep his army-issued personal weapon (the Sig 550 rifle for enlisted personnel and/or the 9mm Sig-Sauer P220 semi-automatic pistol for officers) at home, along with the required amount of Swiss ammunition (50 rounds of 5.56 mm/ 48 rounds of 9mm). At the end of their service, these militia men actually have the opportunity to retain their rifle rather than giving it back.

The government even subsidizes the sale of ammunition and promotes gun competitions and other training activities among the youth of Switzerland. It is estimated that the total number of firearms in private homes is minimally at 1.2 million to 3 million. This for a population of about 7.6 million citizens. One might assume that gun crime is high in this country because of such a high number of firearms, however; it is actually quite low with 89 assaults associated with the use of a firearm in 2007. This number divided into the country population puts the rate of killings or attempted killings with firearms at about one for every quarter million residents yearly.

Switzerland has a very interesting gun policy that has resulted in the production of a relatively large quantity of Swiss rifles over the years. Some are harder to find than others due to age and number of produced models. If you are interested in purchasing an old Swiss sniper rifle or anything comparable, just look online and you should find some good information.