WFSA Current News - October, 2003 

October 18, 2003

British Government criticized on arms laws
            An article in The Independent by Kim Sengupta today suggests criticism has been levelled at the British Government for failing to tighten laws relating to arms trading. The Commons Quadripartite Committee had recommended laws be enacted to prevent British subjects dealing in guns while overseas and out of the country. The BBC also carried a similar story on October 17, and it may be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3199386.stm .
            Labour MP Barry Gardiner is quoted as saying: "This legislation is a dream for illicit arms dealers. All they will do is hop on the train to Paris for lunch, sign their deal and return back to the UK in the afternoon, knowing they can't be prosecuted."
            The law-abiding arm-owning community continues to have its legitimate interests skimmed over in articles of this sort. It is not clear whether concerned groups have made any distinction between the lawful and the unlawful arms trades. Is it really the intention to prevent a Briton on holiday in France from selling a sporting shotgun? Would any purpose be served by legislation that achieved this effect when attempting to prevent illicit arms sales in third-world countries?
            Amnesty International's Lesley Warner said: "When Britain is seeing at first hand the deadly effects of the unregulated trade in guns, it's scandalous that the British Government is failing to clamp down on British arms dealers.”
            Again, it is difficult to see what provisions, if any, have been made in this thinking with regard to the lawful trade. Currently there is pressure for an international arms trade treaty that is binding. The community of sporting shooters worldwide again is left to wonder whether statements such as those of Lesley Warner are realistic. She said: “Only an arms trade treaty can plug the gaps that national governments seem unable or unwilling to fill." Yet in fact, there are already very stringent export requirements on sporting arms.
            It has long been the position of shooting associations within individual countries that lawful sport shooters and not criminals are the ones whose activities are hampered through blanket anti-gun legislation. The same concerns apply at the international level.

October 12, 2003  

Increased Mexican attention from international anti-gun groups
            Very tight gun laws have long been in place in Mexico , with private ownership of any gun only being permitted on a licence issued by the army. This fact notwithstanding, the murder rates in that country have historically been very high. USA are fuelling poverty and conflict, and impeding development. This is a theme presently being run by IANSA. Mexico , and the suggestion is highlighted by an interview with an illegal gun buyer and his description of the longstanding Mexican culture of carrying arms. Shooting-death figures are also given in support. It is pointed out that the trade is linked with drug smuggling. It is implied that seeing success is limited in stopping the illegal drug trade, it will be equally limited in stopping the illegal gun trade, and it would therefore be incumbent on the US to reduce the number of guns it makes. This point is further bolstered by reference to the 2001 United Nations Small Arms and Light Weapons Conference, and to Michael Klare, a Massachusetts sociologist who is quoted as calling that conference “a wasted opportunity”, because no binding agreements were made in it to strengthen laws against the illegal traffic in small arms.
            What is not taken up in the article is the question of why tight laws, already admittedly unsuccessfully enforced by Mexican authorities, would be better enforced if they were made even tighter. The inference from the article is that limiting lawful American arms manufacture would somehow be expected to have a flow-on effect at the border and prevent people with criminal intent from smuggling guns across it just as they smuggle drugs.

October 3, 2003

 American gun law review
           In the rising number of gun laws that are being propagated worldwide there have been remarkably few attempts to gauge the real as opposed to supposed levels of their success.             The American Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday released a literature review of American gun laws which have been examined in no fewer than 51 studies over the last few years.
            The kinds of laws passed with the aim of reducing criminal gun use have traditionally involved restrictions and bans, with specific types of guns and ammunition being affected. These have been implemented in many states of the USA , along with other measures such as waiting periods for the issue of permits. The review of all these and other measures, carried out by a group of scientists, found “insufficient evidence to determine effectiveness”.
            This is a substantial departure for the CDC, which has previously suffered trenchant criticism for allowing its funds to be used in promoting anti-gun legislation.