The European Commission officially announced to be seeking new restrictions on legally-held guns

Dear Members,

I am sure that you have been following the news regarding the proposals that the EU Commission tabled yesterday in respect of legal gun ownership.

While these are still proposals (except for the deactivation regulation that is now in force) that will be subject to the usual co-decision process, our EU-wide sport shooter and collector community has to act fast in order to ensure that these proposals will not be implemented.

As presently worded, these proposals are an affront to law-abiding sports shooters and arms collectors in Europe. Moreover, coming in the wake of the sad events of Friday 13th November, they could be interpreted as the the most illogical knee-jerk reaction that we have ever witnessed in the EU and a clear move in the wrong direction. In reality they were conceived after the Charlie Hebdo attack on 9th January and issued hastily after the latest attack.

As responsible EU Citizens we fully support effective measures that target the illicit trafficking of arms which is the one true source for organised crime and terrorism on European soil and which has very well-known routes into the EU. However we cannot in any way accept the Commission?s reaction to punish law-abiding owners of legal firearms. Let me make it very clear that if the proposals were to be implemented they would not only eradicate several sport shooting disciplines and destroy large numbers of artifacts of historic importance but also the lives and livelihood of thousands of citizens across the EU.

The ludicrous proposal to ban semi-automatic firearms that ‘resemble’ military firearms would be the beginning of the end if implemented. It could be argued that it is not just AR and AK style semi-auto rifles that would be targeted but also any semi-auto pistols that look like their military counterparts. It would be the end for immensely-popular dynamic shooting disciplines.

Collectors take particular offence to the wording of the following paragraph which also displays the utter ignorance of the person or persons who drafted it:

?In Article 2 the proposal newly includes collectors within the scope of the directive. Collectors have been identified as a possible source of traffic of firearms by the evaluation carried out. Therefore, collectors will have the possibility to acquire firearms but only subject to authorisation/declaration.?

This vile and unfounded allegation is being used as a pretext to destroy the bona-fide activity of serious collectors. Moreover it is a misleading statement as there is no one in Europe today that can collect post-1899 firearms without authorisation.

The proposal to include Collectors in the Directive is worded as follows under Article 6:

“Member States may authorise bodies concerned with the cultural and historical aspects of weapons and recognised as such by the Member State in whose territory they are established to keep in their possession firearms classified in category A acquired before [the date of entry into force of this Directive] provided they have been deactivated in accordance with the provisions that implement Article 10(b).”

The Commission is therefore proposing to ban the further acquisition of category A firearms by collectors and the deactivation of all category A firearms possessed up to the date of entry into force of the revisions to the Directive.

Besides bringing to an end the activity of collectors who contribute so much to the conservation and study of historical arms of all types, such a provision would also herald the greatest act of institutionalized vandalism ever attempted in the world as thousands of safely-kept historical firearms would be destroyed.

One has to keep in mind that this destruction, the persecution of legal owners and the huge costs that every Member State would have to bear will not cause the slightest dent in the trafficking of illegal arms which will carry on unabated in spite of the Commission turning on its law-abiding citizens. On the contrary the resources that are required to tackle illicit arms trafficking will be diverted to a useless and destructive cause. This is sheer madness that the EU cannot afford to implement and further alienate those who have supported it so far.

More significantly this issue goes beyond firearm ownership; it is an assault on the rights of EU citizens who want go about their lives within reasonable legal parameters.

AMACS is collaborating with its local and EU partners in order to counter this threat effectively and protect your interests. Stay tuned for more information. Your support is crucial.