Published in the Western Standard, October 6, 2008. Disponible aussi en version française.

 

Of Switzerland and Canada
by
Pierre Lemieux

Christoph Kohring, a 39-year-old Swiss, introduced me to the audience while loading a Schmidt Rubin M-1931 7.5 mm carbine — also called the Mousqueton 1931 in French Switzerland — the rifle of the Swiss army during the Second World War. And before I started my speech, he also brought out a .357 Magnum and put it on the table in front of me, cylinder open, with a box of 50 cartridges. I know these revolvers: in Canada, I have owned a similar one for more than 25 years, which the state is now intent on confiscating. In my speech, I talked about the symbolism of the right to keep and bear arms (“Armes for their defence”, as the 1689 Bill of Rights said), a right that historically belonged to the free man and was denied to slaves. I spoke of how just 100 years ago the right of ordinary individuals to own and, in many cases, to carry guns was generally recognized in the civilized world. I stressed the instrumental value of this right for self-defence against both common-law criminals and tyranny. My speech was given in a Swiss wine cellar just a few days ago. I had been invited by Ruben Begert, 29, a captain in the Swiss army, to give an informal talk to, and to animate a discussion among, a small group of mostly young fans of the right to keep and bear arms. My long out-of-print little book, Le Droit de porter des armes (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1993), which was the first contemporary French book advocating this old individual right, has gained a small following as much in French Switzerland as in France. After the discussion, the wine, and the food, and without any forewarning, I was offered the Mousqueton as a gift from Ruben and Christoph. I was also given two small handbooks, Instruction de base au pistolet (“Basic Pistol Training”) and Tir de combat au fusil d’assaut (“Combat Shooting with Assault Rifle”). All very useful stuff for a free man. In many ways, Switzerland and Canada are two very different countries. Switzerland has a long military tradition, deeply ingrained in civil society. When a young Swiss male turns twenty, he is conscripted into the army and given an assault rifle which he brings home after his training. He will continue to make short stints in the army until middle age. At any time, each member of the militia is ready to use force to protect his liberty. Until recently, private guns, although subjected to regulations from each canton, were relatively easy to obtain and often to carry. Switzerland is one of the most heavily armed societies in the world. Canada, by contrast, totally lacks a military culture. Except during the two world wars, the country has never known conscription. In this sense, Canada has been freer than Switzerland. Moreover, until late in the 20th century, guns were easily available to ordinary citizens in Canada, probably making it one the most armed countries in the world after the U.S. and Switzerland. Before the 1913 requirement of a permit to carry a handgun, before the 1934 handgun registration, and before the 1977 law controlling the acquisition of long guns, Canada was even, in certain cases, freer than many places in the U.S. In the old British tradition, Canadians had the quiet right, but not the obligation, to keep “Armes for their defence”. These traditional liberties have been fast declining. In Canada, the federal government has imposed a gun licensing scheme that includes an arbitrary process of granting and revoking. Some guns that were previously legal are now confiscated. Gun owners are prosecuted. And popular clamours are mounting for still more controls. As the story of my Swiss speech shows, the process has been slower in Switzerland, but it has been accelerating over the past ten years. The Swiss benefit from a revolutionary tradition which goes back to the 13th and 14th centuries with the revolt against the Habsburg Empire under the leadership of the mythical William Tell. The tradition is still vivacious: in inscribing the book on pistol training, Christoph Kohring wrote “Pro libertate and contra tyrannos, pro Tell and contra Gessler” — a reference to the hated Habsburg bailiff of 800 years ago. Canadians, for their part, have been too nice, smiling, and trustful of authority. This is why you cannot anymore be spontaneously rewarded with a rifle when you give a speech in Canada. Already in 1993, when I gave a rifle to one of my sons for his 18th birthday, he was forced to get a licence from the Canadian Gessler before accepting his father’s gift. Now, don’t count on me to tell you where is my Mousqueton now. There is more than one tyrant in the world who would like to seize it.