Background Information
FIREARMS UNITED was founded in October 2013 when Cecilia Malmström, former Commissioner of the DG HOME – Section for Interiors in the European Commission (COM) – presented her “Action Plan on (against) Firearms”.
FIREARMS UNITED brings together more than 100 million law-abiding gun owners in Europe. These include reservists, hunters, sport shooters, collectors, firearm dealers, manufacturers, security professionals, range operators and ordinary citizens who own not restricted weapons.
Our campaign against the Commission’s proposal to amend the Firearms Directive 91/477:
What’s going on in Brussels? Available in four languages
Our position:
The current Firearms Directive is an effective tool for security and does not unnecessarily obstruct legal activity. EU Member States that faithfully transposed the Directive into their national laws and applied proper enforcement enjoy positive results. What is necessary is further collaboration between Member States to learn from those that successfully applied the Directive effectively and to implement measures that harmonise the procedures for better control. That is the way to earn citizens’ trust and cooperation in keeping Europe safe.
We approve harmonising standards and rules for deactivation, blank weapons and markings.
We disapprove the whole «Proposal for a Directive amending Council Directive 91/477/EEC»
DOWNLOAD PDF or read more: here
At the moment we are an independent “Online Campaign Network” which is supported by lots of registered national associations. The next step for a worldwide registered association is in progress. Since 2013 we are publishing facts of the benefit of legal gun ownership. Since 2015 we actively fight against the proposal of the European Commission.
FIREARMS UNITED in Media
We knew that the Commission wanted to implement stricter rules for legal gun ownership. When the Flemish Peace Institute presented its biased “study” on gun ownership and gun crime in July 2015 with support of the DG Home we knew that it’s time to counteract. That is the reason why we published our well visited Firearm Reports during the next months.
Our reports
- Firearms Report I: The European Gun Debate
- Firearms Report II : Gun Ownership in Europe
- Firearms Report III: History of EC’s Action Plan on Firearms
- Firearms Report IV: Report Homicide and Suicide
- Legislative Procedure in EU explained
avaiable in four languages
Ours answers to EU
- FIREARMS UNITED’S ANSWERS TO IMCO’s DRAFT
- FIREARMS UNITED’s Answer to the European Commission
- FIREARMS UNITED’s Answer to JURI : Subsidiarity of EU Gunban
- FIREARMS UNITED’s Reasons for Rejecting Proposal
- How to decrease firearms-related death?
- EU, we have a problem – but you hit the wrong targets!
avaiable in seven languages - EU study on marking, deactivation and conversion of firearms
Our answers to terrorism and crime
The Action Plan against gun ownership was scheduled for 2016 to 2018. We assumed that the terroristic attacks in Paris I (January 2015) and Paris II (November 2015) will be misused for more control on legal gun owners, but we did not expect that the European Commission would use outright lies. During the last six months we learned that Commission and also Ministers of Interiors are just doing this.
They are using lies, false arguments, exageration of facts for stricter rules for legal tax-paying gun owners – but doing nothing for the combat of illicit trafficking of firearms by criminals.
Our petition
FIREARMS UNITED supported immedeately the petition “EU : You cannot stop terrorism by restricting legal gun ownership” which has now more than 325.000 signatures. This one had been started by an IPSC-Shooter from Belgium – Stijn van Damn, who gave it to our speaker Katja Triebel after four weeks after she contacted him and invited him in our team.
Our partners and supporters
FIREARMS UNITED was able to get partners worldwide. As some of our partners are from South America, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Moldovia, Switzerland, Phillipines and India we expanded our goal from European gun owners to worldwide gun owners.
FIREARMS UNITED was also able to found national chapters in countries where the “old” associations did not accept partnerships, e.g. in Finland, Sweden, Belgium, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Coratia and the US.
FIREARMS UNITED is very proud to have active partners in EU Member States as in Poland, Germany, UK, Austria, Spain, Romania, Czech Republik, Greece, France, Slovakia, Latvia and Italy who openly fight against the proposal of the European Commission.
Whilst most of our partners have authorised associations with payment-memberships, our head quarter and also our national chapters have no financial support by members or supporter. That is the reason why we collect money for our «Fighting Fund» by our partner ANARMA.