EU to propose banning semi auto "weapons"

[Blackstuff]

If the EU want it they'll get it, f all our MP's can do about it.

Ironically if that were true the 2008 Firearms Directive which required decent deactivation standards/specs for blank firers to have been implemented (by 2010) and the Charlie Hebdo murderers wouldn't have been armed and they legs for this new FA directive would've been cut from underneath it.

EU Directives are not gospels and if a country doesn't want to implement them they can be pretty much ignored. Sadly the UK isn't a country which practices such defiance.

Perhaps the statement could be amended to "If the EU want it they'll get it, f all our MP's will do about it"

[Airbrush]

If the EU want it they'll get it, f all our MP's can do about it.

Ironically if that were true the 2008 Firearms Directive which required decent deactivation standards/specs for blank firers to have been implemented (by 2010) and the Charlie Hebdo murderers wouldn't have been armed and they legs for this new FA directive would've been cut from underneath it.

EU Directives are not gospels and if a country doesn't want to implement them they can be pretty much ignored. Sadly the UK isn't a country which practices such defiance.

Perhaps the statement could be amended to "If the EU want it they'll get it, f all our MP's will do about it"

I don't have a problem with that.

[huntervixen]

How very true..

[John1]

Further to recent posts and comments. I received a reply to an email I sent earlier to M.Pierre Delsaux of the European Parliament the following is a paragraph from his letter (e mail) read into it what you will.

" All these elements need to be taken into consideration. For this reason, contrary to the information which has been circulated notably on the internet, the Commission does not propose the prohibition of all semi-automatic firearms, but only a limited number of the most dangerous firearms: automatic firearms which have been converted into semi-automatic firearms (and which can be easily transformed into full automatic), and semi-automatic firearms for civilian use which resemble weapons with automatic mechanisms (example semi-automatic AK 47)".

In spite of these maybe less draconian suggestions there are still indications of yet more "gun control" across Europe.

[bradaz11]

Further to recent posts and comments. I received a reply to an email I sent earlier to M.Pierre Delsaux of the European Parliament the following is a paragraph from his letter (e mail) read into it what you will.

" All these elements need to be taken into consideration. For this reason, contrary to the information which has been circulated notably on the internet, the Commission does not propose the prohibition of all semi-automatic firearms, but only a limited number of the most dangerous firearms: automatic firearms which have been converted into semi-automatic firearms (and which can be easily transformed into full automatic), and semi-automatic firearms for civilian use which resemble weapons with automatic mechanisms (example semi-automatic AK 47)".

In spite of these maybe less draconian suggestions there are still indications of yet more "gun control" across Europe.

its the 'and' bit that is the issue...

'and semi-automatic firearms for civilian use which resemble weapons with automatic mechanisms'

that means most, if not all of our semi auto .22's, and all European full bore semis, unless you can think of a semi auto rifle that does not resemble something in full auto? it would also cover things like glocks....

[lapua338]

The proposed ban on (certain) semi-automatic rifles is disproportionate. The appearance of a firearm does not make it any more lethal. .22 rim-fire rifles are widely and safely used for “Practical” and “Gallery” rifle courses of fire and for species control in the UK. Full-bore semi-automatic rifles are commonly used for a variety of purposes, including sport shooting, hunting and, in some countries, home defence.

As is the case with all legally owned firearms, semi-automatic (both rimfire and full-bore) are rarely criminally misused and there is no good case for prohibiting them. Nor is their appearance immutable, since many popular types may be fitted with after-market furniture. I do not support a ban on semi-automatic rifles of military appearance or "large capacity" magazines (another of the EU's ill-considered proposals).

While the EU commission claims to have aspirations to make firearms less accessible to terrorists and criminals alike, the outcome of the amendment, if passed, will surely be the opposite. It is 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 commission doesn’t aim to address these two sources of illegal firearms and only impairs the rights of law-abiding citizens. The EU has been absolutely incompetent in combating black market firearms and has utterly failed to protect the external Schengen borders.

Anyone with a modicum of intelligence understands that most of the proposals are discriminatory and are an erosion of our civil liberties and our democratic values. In my opinion 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.

[Outsider]

It's getting to the point where I can't even look at the news without feeling hideously demoralized.

[morph007]

Anyone with a modicum of intelligence

A modicum of intelligence is something our EU slave masters do not have. As for our career politicians, I have absolutely no faith in any of them.

[kevinww]

EU bureaucrats are a complete bunch of incompetents. As an example, a few years ago while working at a FTSE 100 company, myself and my immediate boss were called into a senior managers office and told he'd been given this EU questionnaire to complete otherwise the company would be fined.

The questionnaire related to Object Oriented Development using UML (Unified Modelling Language) for developing Object based software systems and whether there was a monopoly operating in its use. We thought what the feck, its a methodology how the hell can it be a monopoly. We then proceeded to to dissect and answer their inane questionnaire, pointing out that they had no idea what they were talking about and that UML was an amalgamation of 3 different methodologies where the best parts of each had been included, but you were still free to pick and choose which bits you used depending on the system being built.

Effectively these incompetents were forcing companies to do their research for them under pain of a fine, on a problem that didn't exist so that they could justify there existence.

[Dark Skies]

And on the brighter side,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJgh0a4cenA

Very good! I see that our favourite Mr Yardley has found and commented in his now-familiar style.

I suspect that he's going to wear out his keyboard if he carries on at this rate....

This chap has the measure of him:

"Mike Yardley can spin it any way he likes but the fact remains he is pandering to those who would like to dismantle all shooting sports in the UK and the EU. He is encouraging legislation based on cosmetics rather than any sound meaningful reasoning. Furthermore he is assisting in peddling the lie that the public will somehow be protected from terrorism by foisting this nonsense on legitimate, decent, law-abiding shooters. And, looking at the wider view, he is encouraging the theft by the state of legally owned property.

The core fact is governments really don't like shooting sports. They don't like the idea of anyone other than themselves owning them. They will do anything to be rid if civilian shooters and are hugely inconvenienced that in our faux democracies so many people enjoy shooting in so many disciplines. It makes it hard to ban them and retain votes. So they play the longer game - over many decades. A slow but constant drip of legislation to foist the illusion of safety on the general public and acclimatize shooters to limply accept the next set of measures. Break resistance up by focusing on one group of shooters while the others stand idle because their shooting discipline is safe (for the moment) and it is is hardly resistance at all. And so it continues.

Clearly Mike Yardley's exquisite and rather expensive shotguns will probably be safe for many years to come - so that's all right then. Mike, I don't post under my real name because I have a duty as a responsible firearm owner to observe basic security protocols. Flagging myself as likely owning a number of firearms and shotguns when posting my two pence on forums would be an invitation to treat to criminals. That's how we do our bit to prevent crime and terrorism - by employing common sense You should give it a go."