Schweizerischer Schützenverein

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 Restoration, 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.

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.

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