The private petition will not be recognised by the EU commission.
All responses and feedback concerning the EU Weapons Directive need to be received by the official EU link.
No one seems to listen or are far too idle to make a contribution.
https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdo ... anguage=en
While the commission aims to make firearms less accessible to terrorists and criminals alike, the outcome of the amendment, if passed, will surely be the opposite. It is now known that the firearms the Paris terrorists used were illegal, being either smuggled in from active or past warzones, or illegally reconditioned from insufficiently decommissioned weapons. Yet, the proposal doesn’t aim to address these two sources of illegal firearms.
From an outright ban on semi-automatic rifles “resembling” military assault rifles (when does the look of a gun make it more lethal?), the obligatory decommissioning of museum-owned guns, to imposing firearm rules on airsoft replicas, the commission’s proposal only impairs the rights of law-abiding citizens. Yet, as with drugs or alcohol, such a move is likely to foster a new culture of black market guns for otherwise law-abiding people, leading to growth of the market and as a consequence easier accessibility of illegal firearms to terrorists and criminals.
Since 2008, the EU commission has done nothing to close the “insufficiently deactivated firearms” loophole existing in certain countries, prompting member states seeing a rise in the use of such guns to pressure origin countries (especially Slovakia) to change their rules on deactivation. This having already happened by July 2015, the only effective part of the proposal (enacting common rules on deactivation) is too little too late.
Meanwhile, the EU has been absolutely incompetent in combating black market firearms. The EU has little influence over law enforcement in member states and has utterly failed to protect the external Schengen borders. Hundreds of thousands of migrants enter the EU undisturbed and industrial levels of smuggling includes many different modes of transport. With Europe’s security situation deteriorating not only regarding terrorist attacks, but also due to the war in Ukraine and rising crime levels, citizens of member states that culturally and legally approve of legal firearm possession for self defence have voted with their wallets. Shotguns virtually sold out in Austria (being bought mostly by women) and concealed carry license applications surged in the Czech Republic after remaining basically level between 2000 to 2014.
In order to legally obtain firearms, gun owners in Europe must already go through various forms of background checks and licensing procedures. Moreover, under the existing EU Weapons Directive, all firearms must be registered. Opponents have argued for years that gun registrations are a prequel to confiscations, which the European Commission affirms with the proposed ban on semi-automatic rifles that only affects legally-owned and registered guns. Semi-automatic rifles are a popular choice for a variety of purposes, including hunting, sport shooting and, in some countries, home defence.
The proposed ban (and confiscation) of these firearms will make it clear to all legitimate gun owners that anything they buy legally may be taken away at any time, thus driving many to the black market. Demand drives supply such that the European firearms black market will grow in response to its new customers, making illegal firearms more accessible to criminals and terrorists. Additionally, the police will be overburdened for years tracking down otherwise law-abiding citizens either refusing to comply with confiscations (tens of thousands of people are likely in the Czech Republic alone as civil disobedience is already being vocally advocated) or simply buying an illegal gun for their own protection (as is already happening in countries without legal means of obtaining firearms for self defence).
Another example of an ill-considered proposal is the so-called 15 day "cooling off" period between purchase and possession, even if the purchaser is licensed to possess a firearm. This is an obstructionist irritant to the vendor and purchaser (particularly as here in the UK the transaction has to be face-to-face) and of no value where licensing regimes are in place for all firearms. "Cool off" from what? For example, I have ordered a firearm with a 6-9 month lead time and have the authority to possess. The dealer calls me to let me know the rifle has arrived. I have to suffer a 15 day "cooling of" period before collecting my rifle. Utter nonsense! This proposal is disproportionate.
These proposals are driven by fear with the ultimate aim of a total ban on civilian ownership. We are dealing with an extremely dictatorial EU and one in which requires complete subservience from its citizens. It's turning into a 21st Century GDR but with more fashionably dressed but equally contemptible bureaucrats and politicians. This is an erosion of our civil liberties, democratic values and another example of managed perception to surrender freedoms under the guise of safety or security and totally unacceptable to the many millions of lawful firearm owners within the EU.
