Schweizerischer Schützenverein
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The Schweizerischer Schützenverein SSV, since 2001 Schweizer Schiesssportverband (after fusion with the formerly independent Schweizerischer Sportschützenverband SSSV and Schweizerischer Arbeiterschützen-Bund SASB), is a shooting association founded in 1824, during the Swiss Restauration, in the wake of the collapse of the Helvetic Republic seen as a means to return to the martial prowess of the Old Swiss Confederacy, e.g. in Gottfried Kellers Das Fähnlein der sieben Aufrechten, where before the background of the Schützenfest of 1849 in Aarau, the shooting clubs are portrayed as a vigorous "radical" grass roots movement vital for the preservation of direct democracy in the young Swiss federal state.
The SSV organizes the Eidgenössische Schützenfeste, currently in intervals of five years.
- 1834 Zurich
- 1838 St. Gallen
- 1843 Chur
- 1849 Aarau
- 1861 Stans
- 1867 Schwyz
- 1874 St. Gallen
- 1885 Berne Kirchenfeld
- 1890 Frauenfeld
- 1901 Lucerne
- 1904 St. Gallen
- 1907 Zurich
- 1910 Berne Wankdorffeld
- 1924 Aarau
- 1929 Bellinzona
- 1947 Chur
- 1954 Lausanne
- 1958 Biel
- 1963 Zurich
- 1969 Thun
- 1985 Chur
- 1990 Winterthur
- 1995 Thun
- 2000 Bière
- 2005 Frauenfeld
Currently, the SSV has some 85,000 members (or some 1.15% of the population), the current president is Rita Fuhrer. From its "radical" origins, the Swiss shooting clubs have evolved into a staunchly right wing/conservative milieu with considerable political leverage, although the 2001 fusion with explicitly socialist shooting associations (Arbeiterschützen) tends to emphasize the purely sportive character of the contemporary SSV, with lobbyist activity contained to issues directly connected with gun laws.
