On Wednesday 29 November, the Council of the European Union approved a negotiating mandate on the revision of the European rules on the import, export and transit of firearms for civilian use (see EUROPE B13052A10) in order to begin discussions with the European Parliament. The new rules are designed to close the loopholes in firearms trafficking, where 35 million illegal firearms are believed to be in civilian hands in the EU and around 630,000 are listed as stolen or lost in the...