The European Union, to its credit, has agreed on a series of proposals for tighter gun controls as a timely response to the growing threat of terrorism and mass shootings. The proposals, which are headed toward a final vote by members next year, would extend bans on semiautomatic assault weapons to more models, institute medical checks for gun buyers, tighten sales on the internet and track the resale of guns to foil black-market dealers.

Europe’s move against high-powered weapons adapted from the battlefield stands in contrast to the evasiveness of Washington political leaders on the obvious need for stronger federal gun controls. In obeisance to America’s gun lobby, Congress has sidestepped votes on gun safety despite strong public desire driven by repeated mass shootings. Republican leaders have even shied away from proposals to deny gun sales to people on the government’s terrorist watch lists.

Officials of the European Commission, the union’s executive body, spent the past year negotiating with member nations for tougher proposals that, while not perfect, face the gun threat candidly without veering off on tangents, like arguing that the gun mayhem could more easily be stopped by addressing immigration or mental illness.
“We have fought hard for an ambitious deal that reduces the risk of shootings in schools, summer camps or terrorist attacks with legally held firearms,” Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the commission, declared last week in hailing the proposals as a milestone for Europe. Terrorism is not the only risk linked to firearms, the commission emphasized. Over the last decade, 10,000 homicides were committed with firearms in Europe. This is just a small fraction of the more than 300,000 gun deaths in that time in the United States, where citizens own guns at far higher rates.

The final compromise did not ban all of the most dangerous semiautomatic weapons, like the AK-47, as some nations wanted, nor limit ammunition magazines to 10 cartridges for all of them. But it would require member nations to share more information to prevent gun sales in other jurisdictions after a buyer is rejected by one country. The rules also aim to control the problem of guns that are pronounced deactivated as collector items but then refitted for sale as weapons.

The European move on gun safety is not a cure-all, but it is a worthy public health initiative that deserves emulation in the United States. Congressional leaders, unfortunately, show no sign of mustering the courage of the Europeans.

(Source: The NYT)