Following a wave of terrorist attacks and mass shootings, the European Commission has advanced new proposals for tackling the trade in illegal firearms and for revising the current firearms directive.
Commenting on these new amendments, Italian S&D shadow rapporteur on the file Sergio Gaetano Cofferati said, "Following long and difficult discussions we reached a balanced agreement on this sensitive issue."
He added; "the new directive strengthens the rules and tackles the loopholes of the current regime in particular [...] better traceability and exchange of information among authorities, more stringent rules on deactivation, limiting the use of the most dangerous semi-automatic fi rearms and monitoring systems for checking the medical conditions of users."
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French Greens shadow rapporteur Pascal Durand also supported modifying the existing fi rearms directive "to tackle security problems linked to the trade and possession of weapons and to improve security measures on gun control in the EU in general."
According to Durand, the measures will address "virtually all key issues", particularly on prohibiting semiautomatic weapons, which "pose a real threat, given that they can easily be converted to automatic firearms, or have the capacity to cause considerable damage due to the high number of rounds they fire."
He believed the new proposals took into account the needs of museums, collectors and sports shooters. "This deal, even in the face of considerable pressure from the gun lobby, is a positive step."
However, Czech ALDE group MEP Dita Charanzová, was unconvinced. "If the aim of the directive was to really enhance security and fight illegal markets in fi rearms, I would be in favour. But the final text includes some highly problematic measures with nothing to do with fighting terrorism."
She believed that the measures would "significantly and unnecessarily complicates the lives of legal gun holders."
Fellow Czech MEP Jirí Maštálka was equally critical. Although he appreciated the need to respond to the recent terrorist attacks, he said "this ill-considered proposal runs in the wrong direction, harming good EU citizens."
It risked encouraging black markets, "where terrorists can obtain illegal weapons. Restrictions on legally possessing firearms often widen the illegal and black market firearms sphere, enabling terrorists and criminal gangs to obtain guns more easily."
Maštálka pointed out that "terrorist acts are essentially never committed with legally-owned firearms."
He highlighted the high levels of legal gun ownership in the Czech Republic, saying, "300,000 legally-licensed Czech gun owners […] are alarmed by this proposal. I shall not vote for such a poor and misguided solution."
However, the Parliament's civil liberties, justice and home affairs opinion committee rapporteur, Bodil Valero, backed the new directive, saying; "We need to prevent firearms from falling into the wrong hands."
She also highlighted that "most women who were victims of gun violence are killed by legally-held weapons; safe storage, deactivation, exchange of information and medical checks are vital."