MORE crap on the way.

Grizzly 45

Tired of sending letters and not getting your point across?A German gun boards
Gun board.de is starting a letter campaign with a difference! They are sending fabrio Marini and hopefully Landstrom the most ancient of all weapons ...A stone! As in a "stone of contention" or "stumbling stone" translated to English would be a "stumbling block" Starting first week in January and continuing every month non stop they estimate ol Fabrio and Cilla will be having to remove about a half metric ton of rubble out of their offices per month from just the German shooters.Imagine how much this could amount to if ALL EU shooters decide to kick in or the now just short of 300k Change.org petition signitories kick in?:
So if you have any ol bricks or annoying stones around the garden you want to be rid of...You know where to send them.:):)
The letter below.

Monsieur MARINI F.
Chef d’équipe - Chef de la Task Force Armes à Feu
Rue du Luxembourg 46 / Luxemburgstraat 46
1050 Bruxelle
Belgique


Subject: Your purpose to ban legal ownership

Dear Mr. Marini,
I vehemently contradict your intention to criminalize the ownership of guns, which are used for game,
hunting, sports or ancient collections by law abiding citizens within the European Union. I am sending you
my "inspiring stone" together with these words:
One piece of “Stone”.
There is quite a bit of hope left that you are really concerned about the wellbeing of the EU-Citizens, therefore
I understand this stone as a philosopher's stone:
So in consequence you may strongly consider to cancel your plans of prohibition and for any further
considerations and process you should not forget to participate the parties concerned right from the
beginning.
I am of good hope you will understand this stone present, even if you only keep it in memory, and conclude
wise in final judgement in the near future.
We would like to point out, the new legal draft would lead to strong restrictions for the community of gun
owners. On the other hand, how much stronger is our contribution to the community and society:
o Involvement for historical museums, a wide variety of public and private collections and collectors,
o Preservation of the diversity for a healthy wildlife and protection of their habitat
o Keeping balance between the game populations
o Maintain and generate jobs within the official supplier for hunting and sports shooting clubs
o Sports shooting clubs and their ongoing education and promotion of a conscience
o handling of weapons, pistols and ammunition,
o Promotion of the regional and ‘back to the nature’ tourism
Sincerely Yours,
A EU-fellow citizen and gun-owner

Grizzly 45

https://www.all4shooters.com/en/Shooting/law/EU-restrictions-status-report/

Where we stand at the moment in the EU.

BattleCorp

Dear BattleCorp,

I am just getting back to you regarding the European Commission proposed revision of the EU Firearms Directive. As I have said to you previously, the proposed amendments by the Commission (see attached proposed amendments and the original firearms directive) will have to come before a committee in the European Parliament for scrutiny and the Parliament will have to vote on the agreed text that the committee come forward with, which no doubt will include amendments. The responsible committee in the Parliament will be the committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and the MEP who will write the Report will be a member from the European Conservatives and Reformists but all other groups, including Marian's, will have Shadow Rapporteur's assigned to the Report. We have not yet been informed when the revision will come before the committee but we should have this information shortly.

However, I would like to inform you that Marian has read the Commission's proposed amendments and believes that some are ambiguous. For instance, it is not exactly clear what firearms will be prohibited. Marian has raised her concerns with our political groups policy advisor, who is now seeking further clarifications from the Commission with regard their proposal. I will keep you informed on any updates we receive.

I would also like to inform you that Marian is hoping to hold a meeting sometime during this month or in February on a Friday, so as citizens can voice their concerns to this proposal. Marian is hoping to hold this meeting in Athlone as many constituents from across the country have been in contact with us and it may be the most centrally acceptable location. However, this location may change. I will inform you about the exact time and date of this proposed meeting in the coming week. In the meantime, could you let me know if you would be available or interested in attending this meeting with Marian and other constituents?

Thank you for your time and attention on this matter and I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,
Peter McGuigan
Parliamentary Assistant to Marian Harkin MEP
European Parliament

Just received this email from Marian Harkin MEP.

I will be replying and most certainly will be taking her up on her offer to attend this meeting to relay my concerns to her.

Hopefully a lot more of you will be in contact with her seeking to attend this meeting.

If the meeting goes ahead, I would be hopeful we could fill the place and let her know that these proposals would unfairly affect an awful lot of law abiding citizens.

OzCam

I'd like to attend that meeting if possible. Someone has to speak up for the airsofters and paintballers. If it has to be me, so be it.

BattleCorp

OzCam wrote: »

I'd like to attend that meeting if possible. Someone has to speak up for the airsofters and paintballers. If it has to be me, so be it.

It would be no harm emailing Marian Harkin MEP and ask to be included in the meeting, although I think it will probably be a public meeting. The reason I am saying to email her is because I was asked to indicate whether I would be interested in attending the meeting or not.

Her email is marian.harkin@europarl.europa.eu

yubabill1

BattleCorp wrote: »

It would be no harm emailing Marian Harkin MEP and ask to be included in the meeting, although I think it will probably be a public meeting. The reason I am saying to email her is because I was asked to indicate whether I would be interested in attending the meeting or not.

Her email is marian.harkin@europarl.europa.eu

believe her brother-in-law is in a gun club.

will probably go for the hell of it.

Grizzly 45

Will be intresting to see will the big shots from our organisations make an effort to attend this meeting?Be deffo going up to it with anyone else.Airsofters would want to make an effort as well,as this will affect them big time too.Not only that anyone who owns a gun would want to attend this meeting,it concerns us all very much.

OzCam

Email sent, thank you.

Grizzly 45

http://www.contact.ie/
Might be a very handy website to have once the elections are over.

yubabill1

A petition signed by 1million EU citizens from at least 7 member states compels the EU to consider amending EU law:

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-4729_en.htm


1. The institutions shall, by appropriate means, give citizens and representative associations the opportunity to make known and publicly exchange their views in all areas of Union action.

2. The institutions shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society.

3. The European Commission shall carry out broad consultations with parties concerned in order to ensure that the Union's actions are coherent and transparent.

4. Not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of Member States may take the initiative of inviting the European Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Treaties.

The procedures and conditions required for such a citizens' initiative shall be determined in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 21 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Grizzly 45

For your perusals.What would be good is can the brilliant brains who were employed last year here in defeating our govts proposals loo thru these amendments and give us some glaring faults that I can present to Mrs Harkin when I meet her,with whomever ,whenever in the next few weeks?
Thanks!!
Grizzly

goz83

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

For your perusals.What would be good is can the brilliant brains who were employed last year here in defeating our govts proposals loo thru these amendments and give us some glaring faults that I can present to Mrs Harkin when I meet her,with whomever ,whenever in the next few weeks?
Thanks!!
Grizzly

Maybe post it up on the legal forum and ask there. They're well used to reading through this type of stuff.

Grizzly 45

goz83 wrote: »

Maybe post it up on the legal forum and ask there. They're well used to reading through this type of stuff.

I wanted more the folks here who have a more practical knowledge on firearms to go thru it and pick apart revelant firearms related faults first off.

goz83

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

I wanted more the folks here who have a more practical knowledge on firearms to go thru it and pick apart revelant firearms related faults first off.

Two heads are better and all that. While they might not be firearms specific (then again, some might), they would be easily able to spot things the non legal minded person would miss.

OzCam

Paging Sparks (if you can drag him out of his kitchen).

Also, it might be worthwhile keeping the objections to the draft fairly simple at this stage. We need to convince MEPs that the draft is rubbish, won't achieve its stated aims, and is counterproductive/unworkable/wasteful/unnecessary etc. Detailed technical objections can come later, when it gets into committee in the Parliament.

For now, we need to convince them of the need to act.

yubabill1

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

For your perusals.What would be good is can the brilliant brains who were employed last year here in defeating our govts proposals loo thru these amendments and give us some glaring faults that I can present to Mrs Harkin when I meet her,with whomever ,whenever in the next few weeks?
Thanks!!
Grizzly

Not an expert in any way but 3 things jump out

1. They claim zero impact on EU budget (maybe national budgets will pay for firearms they want to make illegal)

2. How do you define what resembles a military firearm?
Who gets to decide and why is something that merely resembles something military more dangerous?

I went to painstaking lengths to show the overlap between civilian and military firearms over the last 100+ years in my emails cc'd to the MEP's. Don't expect them to get it.

3. Noticed that the present directive does not apply to target shooting, says it's controlled by ISSF - don't know if the proposed new directive is same.

The elephant in the room is; where are our national bodies?

Grizzly 45

NARGC Seem to be following FACE EU on this[see attachment] and letter to the DOJ from the NARGC website. While a good position paper, it would be better if there was a general mobilisation of the troops and issues addressed on a national level and how it would affect the average Irish shooter and deact owner,gun dealer and such.

NASRPC...Well see other thread for whats going on in there.Maybe when the civil war has been decided next Sat?:rolleyes:

Countryaide Alliance Ireland.Took verbatim the UK CPSA Judas statement of "please leave our .22 semi autos alone wont you dear chaps?Even if they DO look abit military..As we got rid of our nasty CF SA rifles and handguns simply years ago and our glorious PM and home secetary are suggesting you take on OUR brilliant firearms legislation all over the EU."Words were had with CAI and they saw the error of their ways and returned to the path of the rightesouness.

SC..........?? WDAI..........??. OTHERS.......??? Irish Target Sports......???
Irish Firearm dealers Assoc....??? Irish Range Operators .....??
Appreciate if someone could fill in any blanks here too,as there are many!







Below is a copy of email sent by Des Crofton to Marion Walsh, Director, Crime 4, Department of Justice on behalf of NARGC and The Sports Coalition.



Dear Marion,

As you know, Irish shooting interests are represented at the level of the European institutions by the Federation of Associations for Shooting and Conservation (FACE), which also represents the national associations of firearms owners in 36 countries, including all EU. In addition to my position as National Director of NARGC, I am also the Irish representative to FACE where I have served variously as a Board Member and also two terms as Vice President over the past 20 years.

Among many other issues, FACE has been dealing with the Commission’s proposals to amend the Firearms Directive. I understand the Council of the EU will meet on Friday in Brussels to discuss the Directive and the proposals for amendment Article by Article. Following discussion and consultation with all the member state shooting organisations, FACE has prepared a position paper in response to what is proposed. While many of the proposals will not significantly affect Ireland as our regulatory regime is already largely in “harmony” with what is being proposed, there are nonetheless some proposals which would alter our situation and which we, and FACE would oppose. In particular, we oppose the proposal to use this Directive for a purpose for which it was never designed for i.e. anti-crime/terrorism measures. The Directive was implemented to facilitate the free movement of citizens with sporting firearms and is not even within the brief of the Commission which is responsible for security. It deals with firearms which are not what are being used by terrorist groups. The Commission’s proposals will manifestly have no impact on criminal/terrorist access to their firearms of preference. The only effect of the amendments as proposed will be to make life more difficult for law abiding citizens without contributing any measurable improvement to safety and security of EU citizens.

Of real concern for shooting associations here in Ireland is the proposal on minimum age. This would simply strangle the lifeblood of shooting associations and is a measure we would have to vigorously oppose. There are also issues around de-activated firearms and standards for same which we could support in principle. An EU policy on sound moderators could be welcome, if it removes the inconsistencies as exist here which commonly result in prejudice being the deciding factor rather than merit with many licensing officers. The creation of new categories of certain semi-auto firearms is illogical.

I attach for your information a copy of the FACE position paper which we support and I would ask you to bring it to the attention of whoever will be attending Friday’s meeting representing Ireland. If you have any queries on any matter in the paper, please feel free to give me a call or email.

Kindest regards,

Des Crofton
National Director
NARGC
&
Spokesperson for the Sports Coalition


NOTE according to this letter the Republic has aquired four more counties...We are now a 36 county Republic!!

yubabill1

"we oppose the proposal to use this Directive for a purpose for which it was never designed for i.e. anti-crime/terrorism measures"

Says it all.

yubabill1

These proposals boil down to a few mistaken assumptions IMHO and this whole debate is essentially going to be a re-run of our DoJE/AGS Working group on firearms thing from last year:

- EU assumes semi auto firearms are much easier to use than other firearms, while capable of a much higher rate of fire.

- EU assumes semi auto firearms held legally are prone to falling into criminal/terrorist hands.

- EU assumes semi auto firearms are for military/police use and have no place in civilian shooting.

A separate argument milling around in my head is;

The UK supports this directive but-

- It is teetering on the brink of leaving EU
- UK has banned semi autos/handguns but gun crime has continued to rise -it cost over £100m to compensate shooters- but terrorism continues
- After banning many firearms, UK implemented most extensive/intrusive CCTV surveillance in Europe and now seeks access in new bill to everyone's email, web/social media activity and phone records without warrant/permission.

Clearly, people in UK are subjects, not citizens.

Cass

Here is a Mouthful, and i'm only throwing it out there without even considering the merits or faults for a second. Imagine an Irish based system across Europe? It would allow for the continued licensing of all types of firearm necessary for all the shooting sports, yet tighten up the laws in countries where they are more "lax".

Bear with me on this.

• Ireland has one of the most restrictive systems in Europe.
• We have firearms that are not firearms (air rifle, paintball, crossbows, BB guns over 1 joule, etc).
• We have a long process to get a license and ALL guns must be licensed so no ability to buy a gun for nefarious purposes (like the American "cooling off period" except much longer).
• We have no right to firearms
• We don't have military service (compulsory) that requires us to maintain firearms at home linked to the same.
• We allow most types of firearms once we can show good reason and not simply because we want one.
• We sign away certain rights that otherwise would/should never be given away (medical, warrantless searches)

The list goes on. To back up this thought i'd remind people that we have no instances of mass shootings, the safest record of sports with regard to injuries and deaths, etc. IOW our record speaks for itself.

The UK banned all they did, as Yubabill spoke off. Violent crime has risen. Knife crime as become more of an issue than gun crime ever was. Terrorist attacks occur regardless. All they have managed to do is destroy certain sports and even prevent possible/current Olympians from training in certain aspects of sport. Yet all the above has continues (violence and terrorism). David Cameron has called for a UK style ban on all firearms. The last 19 years have shown this does not work and if people want to hurt others they will find a way. Terrorists don't use legally held guns, and with illegal guns (ones that cannot be licensed here, the UK, or most of Europe) being easier to get than legally held ones why would they ()terrorists) bother to try and steal them.

Emotions were raw, and rightly so, after the Paris Attacks. Kneejerk reactions were to be expected, but no one thought out the full consequences of their proposals as is evident by the disagreement of entire countries (Governments, not just sports shooters). Other than some countries having mandatory military service and what that entails when they leave, there are other aspects such as what happened in the UK. Banning semi auto firearms (rifles, pistols and shotguns) would result in certain shooting sports being obliterated in Europe. Olympic shooters would have to go to America, etc to train. The Olympics itself would have to change to allow their entrance using different firearms or failing that exclude all European countries from partaking.

Anyway, just telling people what they already know, and thinking out loud. I have a sinking feeling that this issue is going to be out of our hands. Ireland's input will be tiny. We got more responses to national issues than have been given to this (according to the amount of Irish having signed the petition) yet this is a more serious one than anything we've faced at home. If this goes through in it's entirety then the Irish Governemnt's hand will be tied and also free of blame.

Grizzly 45

On a few points. Good that some people are seeing that this is the more serious threat than playing "who sits with who at the FCP"games.
OTOH we have had more people in Ireland than Russia and Estonia sign this [Luxembourg still keeps beating us.]
Emotions were indeed raw ,but this is a plan on holdover from this time last year as Malestrom and Co were pushing this since the Charlie Hebdo attacks.Which just goes to show how callous some politicans are to use a terrorist offence to push their own sick agendas.But then we did see this with our own minister for "justice& equality"[ May his arthritic hide rot in Hell:mad:]

Hasty law is indeed bad law and even the Eurocrats are realising this.Even the LIBRE meeting,which is one of the more liberal EU groups has told them where to get off. Katja Treibel of Triebel gmbh of which some of you go shopping occasionaly,has been commended on her campaign by no less a body than the German police and BKA[German Federal police] on her campaign to stop this madness in Europe... Imagine ..The equvilence of our DOJ /C4 division ringing one of our gun dealers to compliment them on f the same thing.In a parrallel universe someplace no doubt.

From Firearms United ireland FB page.
Total opposition to the Commission proposals even in LIBE!
It is most satisfying to follow the Commission's presentation to the LIBE Committee and see the Commission proposals get thrashed by all the speakers from various political groups. Nobody believes that this proposal would stop terrorism or gun crime.
Full points go to Finland's Jussi Halla-Aho who again was as clear in his arguments as he was in his condemnation of the proposals. The only formerly legal semi-automatic firearm which had been used in a terror attack, was the Ruger Mini 14 in Norway. And this one is not a B7 rifle which EC wants to ban, he said. He got the biggest applause.
Next comes Germany's Monika Hohlmeier. She reported that Germany have had a ban on guns who looks like war weapons. It did not work. So the Germans repelled the ban. She also showed the difference between darknet and internet. And she got applaus when she said this proposal would only tackle hunters and shooters, but no criminal or terrorists. Many thousand citizens would go onto barricades against the "bureaucrazy-monster EU".
We assume that the thousands of letters and emails to the MEPs and national politicians woke them up. So stay tuned and write and telephone to your MEP and local politician for the next 6 months.
You can watch the debate (and choose English or other language) from 1:51:30 at
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/…/Committee-on-Civil-Libertie…

Yes ,we are indeed small as a country and as shooting organisations
.BUT we do have the most experiance of the utter negativity of such bans over the last 40 years with virtual open civil war in six counties and even up there it was suggested a civillian gun ban should be enacted,but was "shot down" at the time
.From a webpage balaclavastreet.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/terminal-effects-the-guns-of-the-loyalist-paramilitaries/

If you ignore the conflict and seceteranism of both sides of this Irish problem and the emotions it tends to bring upand read the page as a research and historical context it is very informative on how in a Western country terrorist groups on both sides armed themselves.Despite utter sanctions against the law abiding in the South and attempted ban in the North.

If you dont want to read a whole history of Protestant gun running.I'd skip to the paragraph "Civillian guns"... The opinions voiced by politicans then sound like the politicans of today!{ignore also the ref to Mexican Narco gangs equipping themselves from US gun dealers.Apart from the main gun runner and armer of islamist jihadists in the White House and his director of the BATFE,and their criminal actions of operation Fast&Furious"]

Bottom line is while we mightnt have clout we can certainly point to ourselves in a EU context and say our strictest gun laws in the EU haven't done a blind bit to stop a virtual open civil war of 34 years in Western Europe.Or to stop said terrorists making everything from DIY submachine guns to improvised explosive devices that almost took out the entire British war cabinet in nr 10,when they were worried about Iraqui hit squads.Utillised properly this can carry clossosal weight in Europe,as the one thing they dont like seeing is mistakes from the past arising from the grave.Its ironic that virtually every EU country has suffered some form of domestic terrorism in the 1970s to 90 and they havent changed their gunlaws that much by banning types of guns.Only after Erfurt did Germany for some reason ban pump action only pistol gripped shotguns.[So called pumpersSemi auto pistol gripped only shotguns are ok.]

In the end its where we were last year at this time, but on a EU scale which is affecting millions of people,not just active gun owners ,but people who have blank firing handguns for self defence,real guns for the same reasons,collectors with quite valueable deacts,hunters and sports shooters.They mightnt be all under a one size fits all organisation,but are all pushing for the same goal of stopping this in its tracks.[Somthing our lot could do well with heeding].Hopefully , I think it will be defeated ,but if you have loons in charge who think it was the girls faults that they were sexually assaulted in German cities on new years eve,and keeping "an arms length" from any aggressors will work in the really real world,and that when a gun fires once 32 bullets come out......Well we have our work cut out still.:rolleyes:

yubabill1

Petition passed 300,000.

Good report from k triebel - would benefit greatly from an exec summary for busy MEP consumption, though.

Grizzly 45

Ask,and thou shalt recive ASAP.;)

Grizzly 45

@Yubabil
Link to the latest proposals from the EU,which anyone with a bit of cop on would see is the same craziness,just worded nicer.
"No we really dont want all semi autos,just those ones that LOOK nasty.:rolleyes:"
You got to wonder about these muppets who are in control.Who comes up with a statement like this??

prohibit the acquisition of the most dangerous types of deactivated firearms by
private persons (typically Kalashnikov).

OR
The Commission proposed to ban some semi-automatic weapons which are dangerous
and which could fall into the hands of a private person with a simple authorisation

What kind of happy horse sht is this???A simple authorisation??What get a gun liscense of your countries choice in every packet of cornflakes?Thereare NO simple authorisations in the EU countries for owning a firearm .

Well Duh! Seeing that it has been turned into a lump of metal and wood by proper deactivation,or would have been if the EU had got its thumb out five years ago and implimented the deact directive....How is this now more dangerous a deact??Does its design
somehow make it a more efficent high tech club??

OzCam

I got a reply yesterday from Matt Carthy (SF, Ireland Midlands-North-West) to my letter via contact.ie on 22-Dec-2015...

(Redacted) a chara,

Thanks for getting in touch and for highlighting your concerns in relation to the European Commission's November 18th proposals.

In light of the recent attacks and security threats, policy makers are attempting to navigate through some difficult reforms. That being said, legislation that is hastily adopted as is the case here often directly affect law-abiding citizens. After a first reading of the proposals, I am wary of certain parts not least those to ban private ownership of certain firearms including deactivated firearms.

Sinn Féin acknowledges the support in rural Ireland for traditional rural occupations such as hunting and fishing. While we believe that such activities should be regulated, we also recognise the damage an outright ban on the proposed firearms would have. The focus of the legislation is therefore misplaced. Rather than targeting the illegal trafficking of firearms or fine-tuning those sections restricting internet-trade, the Commission has gone for an outright ban. It can be argued that this regulation would work better by revising the control on possession of such firearms today, for example by requiring proof of need and membership in sports organisations rather than forcing legal owners to hand over possessions.

This file will come before the European Parliament later this year, and when it does I will be tabling amendments to make sure that the means of the legislation are better directed towards the legitimate ends.

Is mise,

Matt Carthy

It's sad, but not surprising, that yet another Irish MEP doesn't know that all firearms licenses in Ireland already require various forms of proof and/or memberships before being granted. I assume there are penalties for false declarations on the FC1, like most other State forms?

But at least there are things in that letter we can work with.

yubabill1

Griz

I noticed the amended proposals were the same as the original alright.

Oz

At least we have one MEP on our side. We can't expect non shooters to appreciate the licensing requirements in Ireland - remember the justice committee's knowledge level- let alone the various regimes on the continent. But it is our job to educate them.

Not many people appreciate the precarious position the Euro is in right now - these proposals may not get aired, because there may not be a euro parliament later this year.

If merkel goes in March - she has given herself until then to resolve the migrant crisis - the eu may fall. And drag hi has run out of ammo wrt interest rates, while inflation is zero and the euro remains strong against the dollar and sterling. He will be looking to print more money and who is going to guarantee it?

brexit could trigger the whole thing.

Food for thought.

tac foley

yubabill1 wrote: »

Clearly, people in UK are subjects, not citizens.

Of course they are, by definition. A constitutional monarchy like the UK has subjects, a republic has citizens.

Note that Northern Ireland, also part of the UK, has handguns.

tac

Cass

Matt McCarthy wrote:

It can be argued that this regulation would work better by revising the control on possession of such firearms today

An outright ban would do this?

Yeah liking the fact that all drugs are illegal and they cannot be gotten because of that. :rolleyes:

We've said before while dealing with our own national issues that banning of all firearms will not eradicate gun crime. Same applies to this scenario. When all the firearms are banned and these atrocities are still happening what will they do then as their normal whipping boy (the shooting community) will already have been decimated.

It's a crying shame that they seek the easy option of punishing legitimate gun owners to mask their own impotence in combating the true cause of the problem.

yubabill1

He's not talking about a ban, Cass.

My reading of his reply is that he intends to table amendments to the directive to make an Irish-type licensing regime across the eu.

Grizzly 45

See Pdf document.
Well researched written and presented by Katja Treibl from Berlin.If anyone is making submissions or talking to their MEP or now looking for work TDs again this is a good one to have under your belt.It is also well informative on the UK [who claim to have the toughest gun laws in the UK...:rolleyes:] on how well they are doing and actually uses pro gun control academics studies to show that it is not working.
Bullet points are.

Between 2000 and 2012 almost 3 million people lost their lives by external causes in Europe (see chapter 2). Less than 2,4% were firearms-related suicides (see chapter 5). Less than 0,5% (12.076) were firearms-related homicides (see chapter 7). Both rates decreased by more than 30% in the last decade.

The action of the European Commission seems unreasonable, since
* if there is no correlation between legal access to firearms and suicide rates, then there is no justification in quoting suicide rates in arguments for restricted access to firearms (see chapter 5.2.);

* if state control is praised as solution, even when this has not had any impact during the last 800 years, as against social and culture change (see chapter 6.4, 6.5 and 7.2),

* if firearms-related homicides rates are misused to justify access restrictions, since there is no correlation between legal firearm access and homicide rates (see chapter 7.1);

* if the "Evaluation of the Firearms Directive" to promote the proposed changes, misuses individual "episodes" of crime or terrorism to generalise a mistrust of more than 16 million law-abiding citizens, especially when it is admitted therein that there are important gaps in the statistics (see chapter 8.1)
* if EC DG Home presents incorrect data (see chapter 8.2);