Process for acquiring a firearm - Waffenerwerbsschein

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
Hi Everyone

I was wondering if someone is familiar with the process of acquiring a firearm in Switzerland. I’ve read the forms and information on the following website but still have a few questions.

https://www.fedpol.admin.ch/fedpol/e...fenerwerb.html

Perhaps someone could enlighten me. Some additional information to my person.

I am a 35 year old Swiss citizen with no criminal record. I live in Canton SG

I plan to train using the weapon at the gun range as a hobby. Firearms interest me so I might collect them at a later date.

Questions are indicated below. (Numbered)

The steps I understand are as follows.

A. Order my criminal record per post or online. Original must not be older than 3 months.

B. Prepare a scanned and printed copy of my passport or Swiss ID.

C. Fill out the weapons acquisition permit (waffenerwerbsscheins / WES)

1. At the bottom of the form, I have 3 fields which can be filled out defining the firearm/s. Does this mean that I have to already know the name, make and models of the weapons I potentially plan on buying?

D. Send in the filled out and signed WES document including my criminal record and a copy of my passport or ID to my cantonal firearms office.

E. Wait ca. 1 week

F. Go to a gun store with some sort of ID or passport, and the now acquired permit and purchase my weapon.

2. Does this permit also allow me to purchase ammunition for my permitted weapon? Or do I need another permit for that?

G. A selling contract needs to be filled out and sent to the “buyers” cantonal firearms office within 30 days.

3. Who fills out this contract? The website above states that the “seller” is responsible for this. Have however seen in other websites and posts that this is the responsibility of the “buyer”.

H. 1 year down the road, I decide to get an additional firearm.

4. I assume I have to complete steps A. To G. again. Correct?

5. Do gun stores assist in any of the steps listed above? Or do they expect you to arrive at the shop with all paperwork completed and to know exactly what guns you want. This kind of limits them in suggesting another weapon if thats the case right?

Thanks in advance for anyone who can help me understand.

2
Join a gun club and trhey will do it all for you

3
Or ask your local police. You are Swiss.

4
You can apply for as many WES as you want, at any time you want, multiple in parallel if you want. You could probably even apply for more than one at the same time (in the same envelope).

One WES consists of three forms. It authorises one purchase of up to three firearms (or relevant parts thereof) depending on how many items are listed, they must be bought at the same time from the same seller. You need ID or passport with you.

ID and passport only count as accepted "Ausweis", others like drivers permit are no longer accepted.

C1

No, that's not necessary.

Just put Feuerwaffe (firearm) as many times as applicable (3x if you're not sure yet, you can still buy only one).

E

IME 1 week would be very quick these days.

F

Have your WES on you, along with ID or passport.

F2

AFAIA it's the old owner's duty for a meldepflichtige Waffe to register the sale.

To buy ammunition:

Strafregisterauszug not older than 6 months or WES not older than 2 years [or hunting or sports shooting license].

H5

If they don't it's the wrong seller, take your business elsewhere.

------------------------------------------------

You can always contact SIWAS (part of the SG police), they're quite helpful and friendly.

058 229 10 40 (Mo-Fr, 8-11 and 14-16)

[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

5
I've only done it online, 2x.

Quite easy.

Tom

6
Take a look at this:

https://www.waffenmarti.ch/shop/waff...rbsschein.html

7
1. At the bottom of the form, I have 3 fields which can be filled out defining the firearm/s. Does this mean that I have to already know the name, make and models of the weapons I potentially plan on buying?

> Just put "firearm" in each one of the three fields, in your Swiss language of choice (German, French of Italian). Some cantons are a bit stricter, so you may need to put handgun vs long-rifle... but in ZH and AG, firearm works perfectly well

E. Wait ca. 1 week

> 48 hours in AG lately

2. Does this permit also allow me to purchase ammunition for my permitted weapon? Or do I need another permit for that?

> Once your permit is filled, you keep one of the three copies. Show that, and for 2 years you can purchase all the ammo you want. After 2 years, you will need (officially at least) a new criminal record, but so far... it's not been the case for me.

G. A selling contract needs to be filled out and sent to the “buyers” cantonal firearms office within 30 days.

> Done by the seller, NOT the buyer

3. Who fills out this contract? The website above states that the “seller” is responsible for this. Have however seen in other websites and posts that this is the responsibility of the “buyer”.

> Seller. As a buyer, you must validate it's correct (especially serial numbers) and sign it

H. 1 year down the road, I decide to get an additional firearm.

4. I assume I have to complete steps A. To G. again. Correct?

> Yes, unless you are buying a hunting rifle or army rifle - then just a criminal record extract is enough.

5. Do gun stores assist in any of the steps listed above? Or do they expect you to arrive at the shop with all paperwork completed and to know exactly what guns you want. This kind of limits them in suggesting another weapon if thats the case right?

> Depends on the store. Some offer customer service, some are sh*t in that regard. Re weapons, no - as your form will just say "firearm" in all fields.

Source: I help run the English speaking shooting club : es5.ch, and hold more than a dozen firearms