It was by the comfortable majority of 491 to 178, with 28 abstentions, that the European Parliament voted on Tuesday 14 March to approve the inter-institutional agreement on the firearms directive, but it was not without a final, very hostile, salvo from a large number of MEPs in the debate ahead of the vote.
In a press conference, rapporteur Vicky Ford (ECR, UK) welcomed the outcome of the vote, seeking to calm passions by pointing out that full account had been taken of the situations of hunters, sports shooters, private collectors and museums. Faithful to the main principles that govern her political group, Ford highlighted that the text set minimum standards while seeking to limit the extent of the restrictions. She made the point several times that the member states remained in charge of hunting and recreational shooting.
This line of argument was endorsed by the shadow rapporteurs, Sergio Cofferati (S&D, Italy) and Anna Maria Corazza Bildt (EPP, Sweden). The latter expressed open exasperation at criticism which she felt was spurious, for example, on the impact of the directive on sports shooters and hunters.
Liberal disquiet. That criticism was perhaps aimed at Liberal group shadow rapporteur Dita Charanzova (Czech Republic), who made clear her outright rejection of the text before, during and also at the press conference after the vote. Her comments brought her public criticism from Ford who reproached her for spreading false information about the text and praise for her courage from the other shadow rapporteur Robert Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz (EFDD, Poland). The Czech MEP last week put down a raft of amendments with the support of her group (see EUROPE 11742) and had wanted voting on the amendments before the vote on the report. This course would have meant a second reading and a delay in adoption.
Symbolic gesture in plenary. The debate which preceded the vote was used as a final springboard for the minority who opposed the directive. These MEPs argued, in short, that the text did nothing to address terrorism and only brought annoyance to people who legally owned firearms. Highly critical speeches followed one after the other for more than an hour, interspersed with lively exchanges with Ford.
Result of the votes. Like the vote in the internal market and consumer protection (IMCO) committee (see EUROPE 11712), the results in plenary session reveal a deep West-East divide, with Western European MEPs for the most part supporting the text – the exceptions being the EFN Group, the EFDD (apart from the Italian delegation which voted for the text) and some – principally French – ALDE MEPs.
Long journey towards “balanced” compromise. The vote on 14 March brings to an end a long and tiresome legislative process lasting a year and half which resulted in a hard-won inter-institutional agreement (see EUROPE 11689). The text that was reached was deemed by the various parties a fair balance despite the degree of frustration it left, notably for the Commission which failed to have collectors banned from owning assault rifles and to have the capacity of magazines for all semi-automatic weapons limited to ten shots.
Nonetheless, the advances made on Directive 2008/51/EC on control of the acquisition and possession of weapons are many and include the ban on automatic arms converted to semi-automatic, the introduction of a clear definition of collector, the introduction of rules on “deactivated” firearms and systematic medical checks (see EUROPE 11693).
The member states will have 15 months after entry into force of the directive to transpose it into national law and 30 months to put in place an information exchange system.
The Commission shortly intends to present a review of implementing directive 2015/2403 establishing common guidelines on deactivation standards and techniques for ensuring that deactivated firearms are rendered irreversibly inoperable. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)