Switzerland
In Switzerland, airsoft guns used to be unregulated and were treated as toys. As of 12 December 2008, the law was changed to classify them as weapons (note: not as firearms).
Airsoft firearms may not be sold to (or possessed by) persons who are under 18 who have a criminal conviction. Additionally, airsoft firearms may not be sold to individuals from Albania, Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Turkey or Sri Lanka.
The import of airsoft firearms is restricted to companies and individuals who hold weapons import licences. Private individuals can apply for a permit to import up to three firearms which is valid for six months.
Commercial sales are legal providing the purchaser is not prohibited under any of the above restrictions. For private sales to take place, there must be a written contract between both parties. Both parties are required to retain the contract for a period of ten years.
As they contain no propellant, there is no restriction on the purchase or import of airsoft BBs.
It is illegal to carry any airsoft firearms in a public place, however it is permissible to transport them directly between a player's home and an event site.
Further information can be found at the Swiss Airsoft Federation website.
Read more about this topic: Legal Issues In Airsoft
Famous quotes containing the word switzerland:
“I look upon Switzerland as an inferior sort of Scotland.”
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845)
“In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed—they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock!”
—Orson Welles (1915–84)
“In a war everybody always knows all about Switzerland, in peace times it is just Switzerland but in war time it is the only country that everybody has confidence in, everybody.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)