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FIREARMS UNITED has been engaged in the fight against the EU Commission’s unjust proposal to amend the Firearms Directive since the day it was published in November 2015.

Established collaborating organisations such as FESAC and ANARMA, as well as individual team members, are exhausting their funds which are badly required to sustain their efforts. This is where YOU can make a difference and show your appreciation for the sterling work being done by our colleagues who are devoting their valuable resources of time and money to our just cause and who are the key to our survival.

Our partner ANARMA (registered as NGO in EU Transparency Register) has set up a bank account and kindly offered to manage it to receive YOUR donations and distribute funds to our partners to help them carry on with the fight right up to the final victory.

This “fighting fund” shall be used to cover the expenses arising from travel to Brussels, internal and external communication, research and drawing up of reports, the institution of legal proceedings and any other requirements for the specific goal of safeguarding YOUR interests.

The minimum donation amount is 5 Euro. However we would greatly appreciate more substantial contributions – this is the best investment that you could make in defence of your own legitimate interests. A record of donations and disbursements shall be kept and your anonymity will be respected. Your initials will suffice.

Please send your donation to the following account:

Donation via bank transfer

Account Holder	ASOCIACION NACIONAL DEL ARMA
IBAN	ES68 1465 0100 9119 0047 0239
BIC	INGDESMMXXX
Subject	nothing for anonymus donation
Address	Avda. de Guadalajara 20, local 20 Cobeña ES – 28863 Madrid

Donation via Paypal : paypal@anarma.es (We have to pay fees for this service.)

Please note: only donations from within the EU/Schengen may be accepted.

Article in FR | DE

The Impact of the Proposal

As you may be aware, the Commission took advantage of the emotional public reaction to the Paris attacks in order to introduce drastic restrictions and even bans on the law-abiding community of legal firearm owners and users. Yet such measures would not have the least effect on terrorism and criminality!

However the Commission’s agenda has roots that go deeper and further back to a roadmap created in the preceding years by well-funded anti-gun lobby groups that have infiltrated the corridors of power in Brussels and which have found support in the Ivory Tower of unelected Commission bureaucrats that are ever willing to enhance their power and reach.

The Commission’s proposal would severely affect sport shooters as it seeks to ban and confiscate semi-automatic rifles which are used responsibly in several shooting disciplines. It would also remove the exemption currently enjoyed by recognised collectors which permits them to acquire, keep and conserve historical and important automatic firearms – this would result in the destruction of private property and cultural heritage on a scale that is unprecedented in Europe.

What has Firearms United and its partners done so far?

Our partner FESAC – the Foundation for European Societies of Arms Collectors (www.fesac.eu) which represent European collectors of firearms is at the forefront of our struggle. The community of recognised collectors has borne the brunt of the Commission’s fiercest attacks. In order to justify its agenda of remove the collectors’ exemption, the Commission accused them of being a “possible source of trafficking of firearms“, quoting selectively from a Europol report which goes on to say that there is no evidence that collectors have acted outside legal parameters. FESAC has submitted a complaint to the European Ombudsman alleging that the Commission is guilty of maladministration.

The FESAC chairman, Stephen A. Petroni from Malta, is one of the most active personalities in the current scenario. He has put his extensive knowledge and experience at the disposal of all legal firearm owners and users and not just collectors. Moreover his contacts in practically every EU Member State provides us with a network of valid supporters.

Stephen has been a regular contributor within our working group, helping with the daily heavy workload of studying drafts, preparing reports, writing letters and attending meetings in Brussels. He also introduced us to influential persons who have been playing an invaluable role in achieving our first success in the LIBE vote of 19^th May when the MEPs who are members of this committee shot down most of the Commission proposals.

We invite you to follow this short snippet from the moments immediately following the vote during which an MEP can be heard saying “our Maltese friends are happy now”!

Contacts to National Politicians and MEPs

For example, ANARMA, which is the FESAC representative in Spain as well as a member of FACE, has been particularly active in securing S&D group votes within LIBE and they are making their presence felt within IMCO. The organisation’s members are always at the ready to help and give support and they regularly travel to Brussels for meetings. ANARMA’s Daniel Alvarez is the other spokesperson besides me that tackles journalists: Link

LEX has reached within the seemingly impregnable shell of the EU institutions to deliver our message and consolidate the support of reasonable MEPs. LEX does not need funding, but uses our output and facts for corresponding. Thanks to years of responsible work, LEX has garnered the support of its government, ministers and parliament. The Czech Republic is one of our best supporters. Its government rejected the proposal. Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec spoke to Czech TV:

“When you look at the situation around Europe, when you look at the terrorist attacks, they were conducted with illegally-held weapons. In the Czech Republic we already have very tough laws and we do not want to limit gun-holders who respect the law. Czech gun legislation is among the best in the EU and we don’t think there is any reason to change it… The number of crimes committed in the Czech Republic with legally-held firearms is minimal.”

FIREARMS UNITED in MEDIA

The Pan-European lobbies that are fighting against the unjust Commission’s proposal and which are the most visible in the media are FACE and FIREARMS UNITED. However there are others such as FESAC and IPSC which provide solid arguments and lobby through their networks. Our ‘grand alliance’ relies on the teamwork that has been created and which has all the ingredients required to win this struggle.

Read more about our presence in media: Link

FIREARMS UNITED is STAKEHOLDER

I myself was interviewed as representative of FIREARMS UNITED for the evaluation and also for the EU EFFECT study on gun crime, which has been published in the last week:

In a combined country and individual-level analyses […] it was observed that the high availability of firearms was associated with lower levels of victimization by contact crime in general, suggesting a potential deterrent effect of availability.

More guns = less crimes said 2016 EU study: https://t.co/14vhsKGezv @Europarl_EN @Europarl_EN @coe @FACEforHunters pic.twitter.com/pm8U8z4Fcm

— Katja Triebel (@KatjaTriebel) 8. Juni 2016

Participants acknowledged that firearms legislation typically focuses on the control of legally held firearms, and that this is most often amended in response to gun enabled crime. It was identified that firearms used in crime are most often illegal rather than legally owned firearms. There were divergent views regarding whether existing national firearms legislation was adequate, and whether additional national and/or EU wide legislation is needed.

Examination of Firearms and Forensics in Europe and aCross Territories

FIREARM UNITED’s TEAM

In our team we have many other individuals who do not represent an association, but nevertheless work hard and anonymously to achieve our objective of rejecting the proposal.

However there is much more work to be done to secure the next and most important result in the vote of the IMCO committee which is to he held on 27^th June. Apart from that we are closely monitoring the regular GENVAL and COREPER meetings of the EU Council where the Commission is focusing all its efforts, through the Dutch Presidency, to enforce its agenda before Slovakia takes over the helm on 1^st July.

With sincere thanks,

Katja Triebel

Firearms United

OUR MISSION – BACKGROUND – FAQs – REFERENCES

Thank You!

09.06.2016 : 5000 € were coming in by Paypal and bank transfer (500 € by our partner UNPACT)

13.06.2016: More than 20.000 € reached us

15.06.2016: More than 30.000 € (2000 € by French FFTir)

17.06.2016: Balance on Friday was 41.600 € (1000 € by a German citizen, 500€ by LES ARQUEBUSIENS DE FRANCE and 1000 € by LIGUE REGIONALE DE TIR)

22.06.2016: Balance 46.800 € (1000 € by a Finnish citizen)

23.06.2016: Balance 51.200 € (lots of donators from UK, Austria, Netherlands. Canada and USA)

24.06.2016: Balance 54.300 €

27.06.2016: Balance 56.900 €

01.07.2016: Balance 62.300 € (2000 € by B&T Switzerland)

07.07.2016: Balance 66.600 € (2.059,86 € (20.000 SEK) by Mikael “St.Michael” Schelén and 1000 € by a Finnish citizen)

Update from November

Expenses : 13.093,56 €

18.07.2016: IMCO visit -812,78 and -1078,53 and -397,46 and -791,20

18.07.2016: Making a video for promoting CCW – -800

06.09.2016: First letter with Keyfob to all MEPs: -1559,00 and -1225,87

20.09.2016: Advertisment in Parliament Magazine: -4500,00

19.10.2016: Visiting Finland to create alliance of all stakeholders incl. FU Finland -398,34

09.11.2016: Flight expenses for FU Conference in Brussels -1530,38 (first payment)

Balance of 14.11.2016 : 68392,05

More expenses are coming in:

for FU Conference catering and webstream, more flights expenses for speakers, professional Press Release (Follow-up), second letter to MEPs, support of national conferences (next will be in Malta) and engagement of a professional lobbyist.

Update from December

The total amount of donations from 7th june is 106.939,47 €.

From this total we already paid expenses of 23.487,61 € for travel costs, press releases, advertisments and letters, as well as for paypal fees of 1.616.73 €.