To protect public from criminals, legal firearms owners must be screwed as much as possible, says EESC

Well, not exactly, but that’s a short summary of European Economic and Social Committee. Not only the Commission stupid and draconic proposal is hailed as “significant improvement”, but the EESC urges to go further:

• it demands marking of not just firearms, but also of each bullet
• it demands forced buybacks like in UK and Australia, reasoning that firearms murders fell after buyback (and failing to mention that firearms murders were falling even faster before buyback). Of course, forced buyback can target only registered weapons, while unregistered firearms in hands of criminals stay unaffected.
• 3D printing. Since they don’t understand it at all, they propose nothing, beside claim that “nations must come together and discuss this issue”. It must be hard for bureaucrat to find something that he hates but cannot simply ban it.
• They support mandatory medical testing of physical and mental fitness – with requirements set by EU, of course – and repeated mandatory training and safe storage, set no doubt by the same.

For those who know composition of study group, the result is outrageous, but hardly surprising. Six of seven members are unelected bureaucrats with no knowledge about firearms at all, mostly appointed by governments of anti-gun countries like France, Italy and Portugal. Seventh is Marta Sofia Moreira Da Costa, an “expert” also from Portugal, about whose expertise we couldn’t find any information, and our repeated requests about her CV were ignored. As such, the only clue to her expertise level is report of the study group, which for example claimed that “In fact, legally obtained weapons have been used to commit over 63 000 homicides in the European Union over the last 10 years”, until we sent them notice that this is actually more that TOTAL number of murders during that time.

After reading this, you may feel urge to sit and write something stern to these people. Don’t. First, this “study” is only advisory position for IMCO committee, which is decision-maker, and MEPs in IMCO look like reasonable people with common sense. Second, it’s pointless. You cannot change opinion of those people, for their minds are already set: you have gun, that makes you bad, and everything they demand to be done unto you is justified by that. They are not elected, therefore have no motive to listen to mere citizen. If you allow yourself to be provoked into anything rude, most probable result shall be that they take it and use it as evidence that you are aggressive and dangerous – and surely shouldn’t be allowed to have gun.

So take this just as information. Decisions are made in European Parliament and European Council; that’s where our attention must be now.

http://www.eesc.europa.eu/?i=portal.en.press-releases.39195&force=1