The World Forum on The Future of Sport Shooting Activities

WFSA News and Information



October 2005

October 25, 2005

Bulgarian land given over to hunting

In a seminar in Bulgaria, the Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Forests, Stefan Yuroukov, outlined alterations to the Hunting and Gamekeeping Act. Concessions are to be granted to provide hunters with access to what had previously been state-run lands.

The licence fee to take pheasants and partridges has been reduced.

The chairman of the Union of Anglers and Hunters, Hristo Mihailov, is expected to announce a bid for restoration of traditional methods of hunting, such as the use of bows and falcons, which are currently suffering under legal restriction.

Up to five per cent of the state-owned forest lands are expected to be handed over, in the form of about a hundred separate tracts. It is understood that management by hunters will benefit the lands and the game populations.


October 17, 2005

EU takes a position on hunting in relation to Avian Flu

The Secretary-General of the Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation of the European Union has issued a statement, the content of which is reproduced below.

The situation regarding Avian Influenza in Europe is marked by a worrying development having a direct impact on hunting and hunters. Indeed, since it was confirmed very recently that the outbreaks of Avian flu in Turkey and Romania have been caused by the H5N1 virus strain, international experts are of the opinion that migratory birds (and in particular waterfowl) are implicated in the direct spread of this disease.

The Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (in which all Member States are represented by key officials – mainly veterinarians – of the national public health ministries or services) of the European Commission, D.G.SANCO, met on Friday 14th October to review the situation and to take the decisions on the required measures.

The final draft does not ask for a ban on hunting – unlike what certain media seem to have announced. The Statement clearly says that “outdoor activities that bring people into contact with wild birds, such as hunting and ornithology, should not be restricted at present in the EU”, but “normal hygiene measures” should be followed and “hunters….are requested to contact the authorities should any abnormal die-off of wild birds be detected”.

The Statement further indicates that, in the event the disease is confirmed or suspected, “the role of bird hunting in the dispersion of wild birds and possible further spread of the disease should be assessed” and “appropriate measures should consequently be taken in these areas”. In that case (and only in these areas), “specific restrictive measures should be… taken for the possible role of decoy birds used by hunters in transmitting as well as detecting the infection”.

The transport by hunters of dead (water) birds, namely the import into the EU – for example from Romania (recently reported for Italian hunters) but also from one Member state to another – “should be strongly discouraged”.

The Statement contains no measure whatsoever of banning hunting but only good common sense recommendations.


October 14, 2005

Trinidad rejects gun amnesty as a solution

The National Security Minister of Trinidad, Martin Joseph, is reported by the BBC as saying that consultations have convinced him that a gun amnesty would be ineffective in that country.

More than eighty per cent of the murders committed in the Republic use illegal guns, which are being increasingly carried and used by young people who are already operating outside the law.

The Minister said that the enclaves of criminals are difficult for the police to infiltrate, and consequently it is difficult to take the police attention where it would be effective in removing guns from criminal hands on the streets.

In addition, he is quoted as saying, "The criminal elite also finance the acquisition of sophisticated arsenals, which in the hands of criminal gangs, fuel the murder rate and expand the range or criminal activities to include kidnapping and extortion."

In the current environment of blind faith in gun confiscations and the removal of guns from the hands of legal owners, it is unusual to see such statements of fact. It appears that the government in Trinidad is aware that the criminal trade in illegal arms will not be affected by measures directed at the law-abiding.


October 8, 2005

Russian concern with black market arms

The BBC has reported on a substantial special television investigation into the flood of black market military arms coming out of Russia. The program was presented by Natalya Metlina in Moscow.

The program said that over 200 servicemen appear in the courts each year charged with various offences relating to the stealing of and trafficking in military arms. When wages have been low, illegal arms have always provided hard currency throughout Eastern Europe.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has concluded that 178,000 firearms of varying kinds are missing from state armouries, including those of the Ministry of Defence. Authorities are searching for hundreds of thousands.

It was reported that large numbers of both handguns and longarms have made their way into rebel and criminal hands through leakage from such depots, which are particularly vulnerable during scaling down or dismantling of military bases, and during arms-recycling handovers. No fewer than ten fires and explosions have occurred in such centres over the last few years, and these have long been the means of covering up large-scale theft.

The program also dealt with the way in which arms are made in private workshops, even located in homes, using both stolen and manufactured parts.

The program divided the end users of arms into rebels, criminals and civilians. According to Metlina, there are one million firearm licences being issued annually to the civilians – hunting is very popular throughout Russia. However, nobody has any real idea of the scope of the illegal trade, and it is clear that the unlawful element will not be successfully addressed by attacking the law-abiding.


October 2, 2005

Confusion over replicas in the UK

BBC News Online has reported confusion over the effect of proposed replica gun bans in the United Kingdom.

Rising crime rates in the UK have led to the introduction of the Violent Crime Reduction Bill, which not only bans the carrying of replica arms for criminal purposes, but also bans both the importation and sale of any and all replicas.


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