Hunting and Weapons

Recreational hunting is barely conceivable without weapons. That is precisely why recreational hunting is not only a question of nature, but also a question of weapons. In many countries, Switzerland included, recreational hunting is one of the central social justifications for why private individuals are permitted to own and use firearms. This connection is often played down, even though it is politically highly relevant.

According to the Small Arms Survey (2018), Switzerland has around 2.3 million firearms in civilian possession, roughly 28 weapons per 100 inhabitants, one of the highest figures in Europe. More than a quarter of all Swiss households own a weapon, military weapons included. Hunting weapons make up a significant share of these. Anyone who wants a society in which weapons are as rare and as strictly controlled as possible must take the hunting-weapons complex into account.

What awaits you here

• How many hunting weapons are there in Switzerland, and who really controls them? Figures, gaps, and what the statistics do not show.
• The 2025 silencer legalisation: a symptomatic step: What the JSV revision means for the political debate on weapons, and why the security argument does not hold up.
• Hunting weapons and domestic violence: the blind spot in Swiss statistics: What we know, what we do not know, and why this is politically intolerable.
• Weapon ownership, identity and lobby power: Why links between hunting and weapons are so politically stable, and which interests lie behind them.
• The technicisation of the hunting weapon: when efficiency lowers the threshold of restraint: What modern optics, night-vision technology and shorter barrel lengths mean for weapons culture and safety.
• Theft and misuse: what happens to stolen hunting weapons: Data situation and structural gaps in the Swiss weapons register.
• What a consistent weapons policy would mean in the hunting context: Concrete demands that take safety seriously.
• Argumentation guide: Answers to the most common objections to a critical examination of the hunting-weapons complex.
• Quick links: All relevant articles, studies and resources.

How many hunting weapons are there, and who really controls them?

Switzerland has no complete, publicly accessible register of all hunting weapons. The Weapons Act (WG) requires an acquisition permit and a reporting obligation for firearms, yet numerous legacy stocks exist that were never registered. Many hunting weapons, particularly older rifles acquired before the modern registration regime, are effectively invisible to any state control.

At the same time, the revised JSV, which came into force on 1 February 2025, now permits shorter barrel lengths (minimum barrel length reduced from 45 cm to 40 cm) and legalises silencers for hunting use. The consequence: the arsenal of legally usable hunting weapons is growing, while the registration and control infrastructure has not grown with it. Hunting weapons are not recorded separately in Switzerland's police crime statistics. For 2024, there is no official figure for how many crimes were committed by recreational hunters or with hunting weapons. Only the general figures on firearm violence are known, and hunting rifles remain invisible within them.

More on this: Hunting accidents in Switzerland: the risk that is rarely discussed honestly and Hunting in Switzerland: figures, systems, and the end of a narrative

The 2025 silencer legalisation: a symptomatic step

As of 1 February 2025, silencers were removed from the list of prohibited aids for hunting. The official justification: hearing protection for recreational hunters and more precise shots for the benefit of wild animals. What this legalisation actually means is highly relevant to weapons policy.

The silencer makes hunting weapons less noticeable to third parties. That is not problematic per se, but it changes the signal effect of gunshots in public space. A suppressed shot is harder to locate, harder to document and harder for bystanders to interpret. At the same time, silencers remain prohibited weapon components under weapons law, for which a cantonal exceptional permit is required (Art. 28b WG). Since the revision of the JSV, a hunting competence certificate is sufficient for this, which generally makes access to silencers easier. What is missing in this context is a public safety impact assessment: what effects does the legalisation of silencers have on the monitorability of hunting in protected areas and on the traceability of shots for enforcement authorities? These questions were never asked. That is telling. How quickly the consequences become real was shown by Ticino in 2026: a recreational hunter was convicted as a poacher who went out with a silencer and a night vision device, and in the case of the femicide of Faido nobody heard the fatal shot fired by a recreational hunter at his ex-wife, which is why the police assume a silencer was used (Ticino Tracker 2026/27).

More on this: Night hunting and high-tech hunting and Recreational hunting starts at the desk

Hunting weapons and domestic violence: the blind spot in Swiss statistics

The figures on the link between weapon ownership and domestic violence in Switzerland are unambiguous and alarming. Around half of all homicides in Switzerland occur in the domestic sphere, and of these, nearly half involve a firearm. Offences in which firearms are used end fatally in 45 per cent of cases. On average, a woman dies every two weeks in Switzerland as a result of domestic violence. In 2024, the police recorded 21,127 offences in the area of domestic violence, six per cent more than in the previous year; 70 per cent of the victims were women.

What is missing from these statistics: hunting weapons are not recorded separately. To this day, it is not known how many femicides in Switzerland were committed with hunting weapons, or how many perpetrators held a hunting licence. This is no statistical coincidence; it is a political decision against transparency. International studies are unequivocal on this point: the availability of firearms in private households significantly increases the risk of lethal violence, particularly against women in a domestic context. Without differentiated data on hunting weapons, this risk remains in the dark. Authorities and politicians are unable to assess seriously to what extent hunting weapons contribute to femicides. The cases keep accumulating nonetheless: in September 2026, a man in Gy near Besançon killed his two sons and his mother-in-law with a hunting shotgun, and in Ticino a recreational hunter in Faido shot his ex-wife. And when weapons legislation was debated after the killing in Aarau in August 2026, access to hunting weapons went unmentioned.

More on this: Protection from domestic weapon violence: hunting weapons, recreational hunters and femicides (template motion) and The psychology of hunting

Weapon ownership, identity and lobby power

Anyone who criticises recreational hunting indirectly criticises a system that legitimises and stabilises gun ownership in society. That explains why criticism of recreational hunting is so often met with unusual emotionality from within the hunting community: it is not merely about a leisure pursuit, but about identity, social belonging and tangible property rights.

JagdSchweiz and related associations are actively present in parliamentary work in Bern. Historically, hunting associations have influenced the shaping of the weapons act, the hunting ordinance and cantonal enforcement practice. The legalisation of silencers, the shortening of the minimum barrel length and the extension of the night-hunting exemptions in the JSV 2025 are the results of this influence, not the results of an independent safety assessment. Weapons policy shaped by the main beneficiaries of the status quo is structurally driven by vested interests. This is not an attack on individuals. It is the description of a democratic deficit.

More on this: Hunter lobby in Switzerland: how influence works and Ending leisure-time violence against animals

The technicisation of the hunting weapon: when efficiency lowers the threshold of restraint

Modern hunting weapons differ fundamentally from those of twenty years ago. High-quality riflescopes with rangefinders, thermal cameras for detecting wild animals, ballistic apps for wind correction and more precise ammunition significantly lower the technical demands of taking a shot. What does not grow to the same extent: ethical reflection.

When recreational hunting becomes technically easier, the pressure to kill more often grows rather than shrinks. Kill quotas are expected to be met, hunting ground holders expect results, and social recognition within hunting circles depends on outcomes. In this context, technology does not lead to fewer shots under better conditions, but to more shots under conditions in which earlier generations would not have fired. At the same time, safety limits are shifting: long-range shooting seminars that define distance as a learning objective, and silencers that make shots inaudible, change the framework for action without any societal debate.

More on this: High hunt in Switzerland: traditional ritual, zone of violence and stress test and Lead ammunition and environmental toxins from recreational hunting

Theft and Misuse: What Happens to Stolen Hunting Weapons

Hunting weapons can be stolen, passed on without oversight or misused. There is no consolidated, publicly accessible statistic on the whereabouts of stolen hunting weapons in Switzerland. Although the Swiss Weapons Act imposes a duty to report the loss of weapons requiring a permit, its consistent enforcement and public oversight are patchy.

What is known: hunting weapons are not recorded as a category in the police crime statistics. Neither the number of stolen hunting weapons nor the number of offences in which hunting weapons were used can be reliably retrieved. In an environment where legislators are simultaneously widening the legal availability of hunting weapons (shorter barrel lengths, silencers) while the statistics remain opaque, no robust risk assessment is possible. This is a failure of oversight that should be remedied systematically.

More on this: Recreational Hunting and Crime: Suitability Checks, Reporting Obligations and Consequences (template text) and Independent Hunting Oversight (template text)

What needs to change

• Complete, publicly accessible hunting weapons register: All licensable hunting weapons are recorded, including existing stock, with periodic checks on their whereabouts. Template text: Recreational Hunting and Crime: Suitability Checks, Reporting Obligations and Consequences
• Separate reporting obligation in crime statistics: Hunting weapons are recorded as a separate category in the police crime statistics: offences, femicides, thefts, misuse.
• Safe storage requirement with checks: Hunting weapons must be stored in certified, locked gun cabinets, with unannounced spot-check inspections. Template text for a parliamentary motion: Public Safety: Minimum Distances, Exclusion Zones, Reporting Obligation
• Withdrawal of the hunting patent in cases of domestic violence: Anyone convicted of domestic violence, threats or bodily harm automatically loses their hunting patent and their licence to possess weapons. Template text: Protection from Domestic Firearm Violence: Hunting Weapons, Recreational Hunters and Femicides
• Reversal of the silencer legalisation or strict special regulation: If silencers are permitted, a mandatory register, a separate licensing requirement, and a clear justification requirement with a safety impact assessment are needed.
• Independent hunting weapons commission: A commission independent of the hunting milieu, made up of security experts, animal welfare experts, legal experts and media professionals, oversees hunting weapons law and practice. Template text: Independent Hunting Oversight: External Control Instead of Self-Regulation
• Mandatory safety training upon patent renewal: Analogous to a driving licence: periodic, independent suitability testing incorporating current safety standards.

Talking points

«Recreational hunters are responsible, trained weapons users.» In individual cases, that may be true. The societal question is larger: when a system normalises weapon ownership for leisure activities, the presence of weapons in society rises, with a demonstrably higher risk of domestic violence, suicide and accidents. Individual responsibility is no substitute for structural oversight.

“Silencers are hearing protection, a health measure.” Hearing protection is available as earmuffs and in-ear solutions for a few francs, with no firearms-law consequences. Silencers do not merely protect hearing. They change how audible shots are to third parties, how well hunting can be monitored in sensitive areas, and the signal effect of gunshots as a warning to bystanders. Framing as a safety measure something that above all increases the efficiency and uncontrollability of hunting weapons is misleading.

«A link between hunting weapons and femicides is not proven.» That is precisely the problem: it is not proven because the data is not collected. Internationally, the link between firearm availability in the household and the risk of femicide is well documented. Switzerland is missing from these statistics not because the risk does not exist, but because hunting weapons are invisible in crime statistics. That is not an all-clear. That is a failure of oversight.

“Gun control is an attack on recreational hunters.” Seat belts are not an attack on motorists. Fire safety regulations are not an attack on restaurant owners. Weapons control is a basic requirement for any activity in which people come into contact with potentially lethal devices. Those who frame this requirement as an attack are not defending freedom, but uncontrollability.

Quick links

Articles on Wild beim Wild:

• Protection from domestic weapon violence: hunting weapons, recreational hunters and femicides (template motion)
• Recreational Hunting and Crime: Tightening Suitability Checks, Reporting Obligations and Consequences (template text)
• Public Safety: Minimum Distances, Exclusion Zones, Reporting Obligation (template text)
• Lead-Free Hunting: Ban on Lead-Containing Ammunition in the Canton (template text)
• Hunting accidents in Switzerland: the risk that is rarely discussed honestly
• Independent Hunting Oversight: External Control Instead of Self-Regulation (template text)

Related dossiers:

• Hunting and Wildlife Diseases
• Night hunting and high-tech: the myth of fair hunting
• Hunting Dogs: Use, Suffering and Animal Welfare
• Lead ammunition: the toxic legacy of recreational hunting
• High hunt Switzerland: Traditional ritual and stress test
• Swine fever as a justification for recreational hunting
• Hunting Accidents in Switzerland
• Hunting and Animal Welfare: What the Practice Does to Wild Animals
• Hunting and Weapons
• Driven Hunt in Switzerland
• Wait Hunting: Waiting, Technology and Risks
• Earth hunting
• Trap hunting
• Wait hunting
• Special Hunt in Grisons
• Swiss Hunting Statistics 2025: What the Federal Figures Show
• Poaching and hunting crime in Switzerland: Systematic impunity and the limits of self-control

Our Standard

Recreational hunting is a weapons issue. In Switzerland, recreational hunting normalises the private ownership and use of firearms on a scale that is among the highest in Europe. At the same time, basic data is lacking: hunting weapons do not appear as a category in crime statistics, stolen hunting weapons are not recorded consistently, and the connection between hunting weapons and femicides remains in the dark. The legalisation of silencers in 2025 shows that weapons policy in the hunting context is shaped by the lobby, not by independent security experts.

This dossier documents the hunting-weapons complex using figures, legal foundations and structural gaps. The information is continuously updated whenever new data, rulings or political developments require it.

What security gaps around hunting weapons do you know of in your region? We are collecting concrete demands, examples and incidents: wildbeimwild.com/kontakt

More on the topic of recreational hunting: in our hunting dossier we bring together fact checks, analyses and background reports.