Firearms: Agreement on Commission proposal to increase citizens’ security

After a year of discussions, the European Parliament and Council have reached a provisional political agreement on the Firearms Directive. The Commission proposed a revision of the current EU rules on firearms on 18 November 2015 to make it harder to legally acquire high capacity weapons in the European Union, allow better tracking of legally held firearms thus reducing the risk of diversion into illegal markets, and strengthen cooperation between Member States. President Jean-Claude Juncker said: “We have fought hard for an ambitious deal that reduces the risk of shootings in schools, summer camps or terrorist attacks with legally held firearms. Of course we would have liked to go further, but I am confident that the current agreement represents a milestone in gun control in the EU.” The provisional political agreement retains a majority of what the Commission originally proposed, such as the ban of automatic firearms transformed into semi-automatic firearms, the inclusion of collectors and museums in the scope of the directive, the regulation of alarm and acoustic weapons, the regulation of Internet sales, the regulation of deactivated weapons and more exchange of information between Member States. At the same time, the Commission regrets that some parts of the original proposal were not supported by the Parliament and the Council. However, considering that the overall package is an improvement compared to the current situation, the Commission can accept the compromise found.