Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament today tabled amendments to the EU’s Firearms Directive. The ALDE group does not agree with the final consensus that has been reached, and which will be voted on next week in Plenary. It impacts on millions of legal owners in the EU, such as sport shooters or hunters, instead of tackling illicit arms trafficking. It will still allow direct online sales of weapons to consumers, and misses the chance to provide clear and harmonized regimes for deactivated firearms.
MEP Dita Charanzová, ALDE spokesperson on the Internal Market, said today:
„The European Parliament has given up too easily on its position. The Directive now misses its principle aim, which was to support the fight against terrorism in Europe. It does not bring any new instruments to effectively do so, such as clear and harmonized regimes for deactivated firearms. Instead of limiting illicit trade with firearms, it limits the rights of legal owners. ”
MEP Gérard Deprez, Substitute Member of the LIBE committee, added:
„If you really aim to tackle illegal arms trafficking in Europe, it is not only naive to allow unrestricted online sales of guns directly to consumers, it is simply irresponsible. That is why, we want to limit the online sales to business-to-business transactions only, as initially proposed by the Commission.”
