Reader IO writes:
Being a European weapons enthusiast who loves my hobby (even though I think it’s already much too over-regulated here in Norway), I will firstly say that I find your blog very interesting and applaud you for taking a “no bullshit stance” when it comes to media hysteria concerning guns and that you fight hysterical claims with cold facts.
I now feel that the time is ripe for mentioning the situation fellow gun enthusiasts have to deal with in Europe and at the time of this writing, radical forces within the E.U. have set forth a series of proposals concerning wide and draconian modifications of the E.U. firearms directive. The new proposals appear to outline what might be the biggest gun rights restriction in modern history, since all E.U. member states and those bound by the Schengen treaty are affected.
This proposition is to be voted over in early July and is being unscrupulously promoted by its proponents, blatantly serving a toxic propaganda cocktail of lies, inaccuracies and misuse of statistical data. The proposal is worded in such vague legal language that it may be difficult to accurately predict in just how many ways it can damage the law-abiding gun owner, however some of the things that are left without a shadow of doubt are:
All detachable magazines holding more than 11 rounds for long guns (rifles, carbines, shotguns) and more than 21 rounds in the case of handguns would be banned.
Semi-automatic firearms capable of accepting those “high-capacity” magazines would be banned.
Firearms using internal box or tube magazines capable to hold more than 11 rounds (for rifles, carbines, shotguns) or 21 rounds (for pistols) may also be banned or restricted.
All semi-automatic firearms that can be shortened to less than 60 centimeters in length by the use of a collapsing, telescoping, folding or easily removable buttstock would be banned.
“Demilitarized” guns – those semi-automatic, civilian-grade guns converted after full-automatic military firearms – would be banned even if the modification has been put in place in such a way that would make re-conversion to select-fire/full-automatic capabilities impossible.
While partial exceptions to these bans could be granted to sport shooters, only national shooting federations recognized by the ISSF (International Sport Shooting Federation) would have the authority to decide what a “sporting firearm” is and what it is not. This means that all guns that are not conceived for academic or Olympic shooting competitions – including IPSC/IDPA/3-Gun firearms – would not qualify for the exemption. Moreover, sport shooters would only be granted a permit for such firearms if they have been active shooters during the preceding twelve months. Then there’s this:
Deactivated firearms and alarm guns should be registered.
Reproduction or antique firearms would no longer be outside the scope of the cirective.
Licenses allowing ownership of semi-automatic firearms could be limited in duration – possibly to as shortly as three years.
A grandfathering clause would allow current owners to retain those firearms, but no new ones could be acquired by anybody and existing ones could not be transferred for any reason – including inheritance: upon owner’s death, those guns should thus be confiscated and destroyed without compensation.
Again these are (unfortunately) only a select few highlights from the total list of proposed regulations, for more reading please see firearms-united and all4shooters websites.
The proposals have seen little media publicity so far, likely the result of an uninterested or even outright antigun press. This lack of publicity is extremely bad since it allows the entire process to basically fly under the radar of law abiding citizens, allowing desicions to be made concerning their freedom and rights without their knowing. According to several gun owner associations there are still seasoned weapons enthusiasts that have failed to hear of the proposals thus limiting the number of critical voices that can impede the current process.
I sincerely hope that you can help remedy the media situation by mentioning it in your blog, Facebook etc. thus giving it the publicity it sorely needs before its too late.
Attached you will find the call to action letter from the firearms organization Firearms United, which gives a more detailed insight into the proposition. I have also attached a list of institutional contacts for EU member states, listing the appropriate contacts for concerned citizens.
A fellow weapons enthusiast from Europe
Good luck folks. I hope that your member states are able to be lax in enforcement. I somehow doubt it though.
Depends where you are in Europe. Most eastern EU members will tell the EU to go piss up a rope.
No they won’t, because they are on a massive cash-transfer gravy train from Brussels.
They already did when it came to the migrant issue.
If Skankles gets in we can look for bans and EOs to surpass Obama.
That’ll stop jihadi’s from raping your women, blowing up your buses and shooting up your theaters.
Yup. It surely will.
Or will it make it easier to run the people of the EU down into third world hellhole status while their leaders get rich and fat behind tall walls?
Europe will be under Sharia Law well before 2030.
They are finished, just don’t know it yet.
Agree that Europe is dead. My wife still has a lot of family in Austria. They used to be typical raging European socialists, but even they are beginning to see the end as it approaches.
You’re an ignorant fool
How so? He seems to have the gist of it to me, and I have spent a lot of time in Europe and my wife was born and raised there.
Vote #Brexit
Unlike the US with its Federalist system, the EU simply wants central planning of everything and the members have little to no say.
The EU like the American Left believes that pieces of papers with words on them have magical powers to stop crime.
Sad to say they figure this won’t add to #brexit in any way. They have judged the people of the UK have surrendered their firearms and most of their common sense long ago, and will just take most any whipping their masters hand out. The Empire has been in a long decline since the Americans kicked them to the curb, it is just that the decline has taken a rather steeper curve in more resent decades.
Except, funny enough, England is one EU state where those new rules wouldn’t really matter because the local laws are already tighter. Hardest hit will be places like Czech and Poland, Norway and Italy to a lesser degree.
They are long overdue for some gunpowder, treason & plot.
I’m sorry this is happening to you. It’s horrible.
Unfortunately, it was more or less inevitable as soon as you entered the EU. I don’t think individual countries, much less individual EU subjects, have much say in EU regulations. They’ll pass these rules because civilian disarmament is a required step in moving toward the post-democratic world the globalist autocrats want.
Step one: Get out of the EU. If there is still time.
The Euro Parliament doesn’t even have any say!
Not true. The council made its stance, now the Parliament will. Hopefully the Parliament decides to throw it away as several MEPs already declared.
If the positions of the Council and Parliament differ, they will have to try to find a compromise. If they can’t, the whole thing moves to a second round sometime in 2017.
Well, when the new EU hegemony finishes disarming you and finally the denizens of the continent are properly enslaved we wish you the absolute best and remind the whole continent that we fought for your freedoms twice and y’all pissed it away twice so we’re done helping. Remember, don’t bring that shit over here. We’re still friends but we’re not loaning you soldiers anymore.
There is nothing to be done. The EU politicians are not elected by the people they supposedly represent. Its all theater anyways. Hell, the EU legislators can’t even propose laws – they are all handed down from the leadership, and voted on (non-bindingly) to maintain the illusion of democracy. The only way to secure any Rights, is to NOT be a member.
With any luck, after the BREXIT happens, the whole authoritarian house of cards will com tumbling down, and preferable before the EU finishes consolidation all the militaries of its member states into an EU army…that’s when shit will get really Orwellian. Judging by how shrill the howls have been after the leak of those intentions, I’d say the plan to create an authoritarian super-state, are well underway.
Get out while you can.
I hope they do get out now, because if they don’t they’re going to have to shoot their way out later.
…probably not shoot so much as punch, kick and scream.
“Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia and Africa have long expelled her, Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.” (Paine, Common Sense pg. 37).
Thomas Paine is a freaking genius. People should read his works more often.
Amen, Mr. Paine, Sir. Amen.
Go read “Caliphate” by Tom Kratman. Gives you a good idea what might be in store for you.
Sorry Europeans, but it sucks to be you.
And would a Zombie Apocalypse really be so bad? The gene pool needs some serious clorine.
You forgot the H in Chlorine, Shakespeare
Ah, another keyboard spelling/grammar/punctuation Nazi heard from.
Semi-automatic firearms capable of accepting those “high-capacity” magazines would be banned.
Who cares about the magazine capacity limits when they’re banning every firearm that takes a detachable magazine?
Right? The numbers don’t really matter… it eliminates pretty much everything except revolvers and tube guns because, well, that’s the way (external) magazines work.
Clips might be okay though
I don’t understand any ongoing disarmament initiatives in the European Union member states at this point. Are the ruling class of the member states afraid that some of the 1% of their population that have firearms are going to “storm the capital” or something like that?
Saying it another way, there is so little firearm ownership in the E.U. member states, I don’t see how the tiny number of firearms owners pose any risk to the ruling class.
“Saying it another way, there is so little firearm ownership in the E.U. member states, I don’t see how the tiny number of firearms owners pose any risk to the ruling class.”
The mere fact that they own firearms puts them at odds with the kind of thinking the ruling class relies on to stay in power; wouldn’t want those nasty thoughts of “self reliance” and “individual rights” to spread.
This proposal is actually mostly run by the French and Germans who realized they have millions of Muslims with theoretical access to legal firearms within their countries.
And who can’t say out loud they want to ban Muslims from owning firearms so that Muslims don’t shoot other people for not being Muslims.
And who can’t push the legislation through their own national parliaments without answering what the real goal actually is.
SOL EU boyz-learn some arabic and learn to bow 5 times a day…
Or learn to use a bow and arrow. My amateur google-fu shows that archery is still semi-easy to get into in Europe.
But be careful bowing in any position that resembles a sheep or goat, because that could lead to some Sharia law permitted shenanigans on the part of your new masters. Oh, and keep a close watch on your pre-pubescent daughters because there will be a high demand for wives in the new order.
My hat off to you firearm owners in Norway. But since Facebook is on an anti-2a quest, I doubt there will be much leverage from there. And there is only so much exposure here in the states will do, we have our own problems with the anti-2a politicians.
Sad to see. Europe is marching toward the abyss in so many ways…
When everyone is disarmed the physically strong will run the show over there.
That pic alone sends chills down my spine. Here is to a limited if any government and a big individual. Damn I’m freaked out.
If you really want to drive the chill home, spend some time investigating the giant labyrinthine edifice that is the EU. It is the bureaucracy to end all bureaucracies. Here, http://europa.eu/about-eu/institutions-bodies/ …I’ll wait.
Be sure and read between the lines, and when you’re done there will be a pop quiz on the differences in duties, authority and necessity of, the European Council, Council of the European Union, and European Commission.
Good luck.
I wonder what the response will be from the big European manufacturers, like H&K and Beretta. Would they consider moving their whole operation stateside, where the grass is greener?
HK has almost no stake in the civilian market here. They’re not even allowed to sell spare parts for semi-auto G3 or MP5 clones to the civilian market (the German Federal Police has made that umistakenly clear to them inofficially). The few pistols they sell to sports shooters and hunters in Europe do not generate too much revenue either. They’ve always been a 100% government-affiliated business.
That is not completely correct. You can buy semi-auto MP5 made by HK in the Czech Republic, the same with G3 and G36.
Another reason, where none is really needed, to NOT be in the UN.
So true!
Only 3 countries voted against the proposal:
Czech Republic
Poland
Luxembourg
One of the three voted based on the principle (“every law abiding citizen has the right to be armed”).
One of the three voted against because “f–k you EU” is main modus operandi of their new government.
One of the three voted against based on the argument the proposal is not strict enough.
I guess even an American with little to no knowledge of European politics can guess which country voted against for what reasons.
Europeans need to start learning how to use their middle finger…
So 3d laser sinter printer and cnc milling machine and deep hole drillings machine got banned next then for privat white mandatory prison sentence for owning them ore they must mandatory connected to gouverment so send the protocols of all actions ?
Stop all infrigments and 1984 !!
Stop Britanians anti guner and send the euddssr freaks to nordkorea !!
All that can be said really is, SIEG HEIL!
Time to start buying stock in whichever company makes those orange jumpsuits. Seems sure to be a growth industry in Europe in coming decades.
At least they left out “thinking, talking, dreaming, imagining, reading and writing about guns,
For now.
European culture is dead. Within a couple of generations, there will be no more Europe only Eurabia. My wife is a ‘legal’ immigrant from Austria and she and I have walked around in the cities there and seen that the culture is fading in favor of Islamization. The so-called ‘leaders’ of Europe are too stupid and too naive to see that they are the ones precipitating the end of their own society.
Absolutely! Disarm the populace because then there is no way terrorists will be able to get guns . . . how stupid can people be? But no loss . . Europe is a dead culture and they have effectively committed suicide with their own Liberal/Socialist attitude.
The USA needs to have reasonable and sensible gun controls such as sophisticated Europe has because the crime rate is just so low there.
We had some guy on this site stating that he was so much safer in Britain than Florida.
So see, it just is all good.
The modern man never needs a gun. Ever.
Hey, our military hero sheep dogs such as Petraeus are joining space hero Mark Kelly for more reasonable and sensible gun control such as Europe has.
Our military is there protecting your rights.
Hear hear
You’re obviously too stupid to recognize sarcasm…. Please spare us your socialist crap gun-grabbing crap. Thanks for playing today; where should we send your Participation Trophy?
proposition is to be voted over in early July
Is this an actual VOTE by free citizens, or the club of overlords deciding on what you believe?
If political power comes from the barrel of a gun, then those that hold the guns, can vie for political power. If the EU removes all guns from the people, then who is left with guns, i.e. who is left to assume political power? The EU does not have an army, so what is the EU leadership’s “end-game”… how do they envision maintaining political control? I’m confused.
Th European people are absolute sheep. they have been emasculated for so long, the idea of resisting doesn’t even enter their minds.
The sophisticated Europeons ( deliberate spelling) will have loads of laughs with the adherents of the Religion Of Peace.
So true.
It’s all about the smoke and mirrors of making the enemy think they’re friends while screwing over the average person. Europe is a continent of slaves and they will only go downhill from here.
How ignorant are these comments in regards to the laws and customs of other civilized countries. Only the United States has a second amendment. Compare the rate of gun violence in any country in Europe to the good ol’ USofA. Perhaps they have something worth learning from. How many people are still alive in those countries compared to ours? No system is perfect, but for one life saved (maybe your child’s or parents) isn’t it worth it to at least try. Who of any credibility has proposed to confiscate guns? It’s only the battle cry of the scared and weak to believe so. Keep your guns, just adhere to regulations that take the edge off of gun violence.
Would you care to compare crime stats for the Czech Republic, which is a shall-issue country, with the rest of the EU? Gun crime stats too? Or are you simply repeating the party line?
Of course it is not a proposal to confiscate the guns. Those proposing this don’t expect it would come to a need to confiscate them, they simply expect that everybody will hand over everything banned by the new laws.
What this and other similar efforts have managed around here is that the majority of population would vote to leave the EU. The major political parties feel so much pressure and such a drop in popularity that they’ve actually began listening to what the people want, which is a sure sign that matters are serious.
It’s quite possible that human beings are simply incapable of maintaining personal liberty over time. The natural state of mankind may in fact be despotism.
The Allied victory in World War II and the Marshall Plan which rebuilt Europe economically gave the continent it’s best chance to escape it’s horrific past in which the strong and the young lorded over everyone else.
Humanity will likely never have such a good chance again to throw off the chains of slavery. Europe is clearly now headed in the wrong direction and is seeking to enslave themselves once again.
I sincerely doubt that United States will be strong enough to save them from themselves one last time. In fact, we will likely not even be able to save ourselves.
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