090316 - WFSA, IWA and NRA

The World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities held its Annual General Meeting March 12th 2009 in Nuremberg, at IWA 2009, which acted as a sponsor. One day before the IWA, March 11th 2009, a young student attacked in his school in a small German town of Winnenden. 17 year old Tim Kretschmer stole his father`s 9.00 mm Beretta pistol, killing 15 people and himself. Gun law in Germany is very strict, including safety regulations, but Kretschmer was still able to steal the gun from his father`s possession, having it illegally. He was too young to obtain a permit himself and it's not known if he'd been able to qualify for one otherwise.

Only some years ago Madrid terrorist attack happened during the first day of IWA, so we should think seriously what is wrong in our World, is it media or Internet which is giving to the murderers immortality they crave. TV and printed newsmedia are too eager to tell us what happened, regardless of which facts are actually known, but why? Bearing this media bias in mind, for the sake of the future of sports shooting activities and our right to keep guns for legal purposes, every terrorist attack against innocent people has become critical and dangerous!

WFSA Plenary Session 2009 began with a keynote speaker Robert J. Cottrol. Robert J. Cottrol is currently Professor of Law at Harold Paul Green Research, and Professor of History and Sociology at George Washington University. He is a well known editor and author of a number of books, including /"The Afro-Yankees: Providence`s Black Community in the Antebellum Era, Gun Control and the Constitution: Sources and Explorations on the Second Amendment, "/and/" From African to Yankee: Narratives of Slavery and Freedom in Antebellum New England."

Robert J. Cottroll`s topic was "Shooting Sports of the Right to Bear Arms - Contrasting European and American Perspectives". Knowing that audience had European and American perspective to the gunownership, Cottrol gave us a clear, historically consistent pattern what are our chances without private gunownership, goverment terror, Stalin`s Russia, Hitler`s racial program, Pol Pot`s Cambodia, Sudan etc. The Speaker really kept everyone awaken and appalause showed it. Second amandment is to most Europeans very difficult matter, because private gunownership is not a right to Europeans, also problem is self defence right!

From right to left: Kayne Robinson, Executive Director, General Operations, NRA (USA) and Runo K. Kurko, President, NRA (Finland)

Other speakers were all well-known to the audience; Vito Genco, Hans-Herbert Keusgen (Waffenrecht), George Martin (The European Commission), Thomas L. Mason (WFSA), Ted Rowe (President of WFSA) , but really intesting speech was R. Richard Patterson`s (SAAMI). Laser-engraving the bullet with the long serial number should inform to the police about the identity of the original purchaser of the cartridges, should they surface in a criminal investigation! As perfect a solution like this may sound in theory, much like engraving identification code to the firing pins of firearms, implementation in practise is technically challenging, cost-prohibitive and worthless, as the target group, criminals, can effortlessly handload the ammunition they need and remove the identifying markings from the firing pin. This plain fact raises the age-old question, is the anti-gun lobby really interested in affecting the crime they so fondly use as an excuse to anything, because in practise all their efforts are directed solely to harassing lawful, law-abiding gun owners. Time and time again, in spite of their self-proclaimed status of being "informed". If that really is the case, they're blatantly ignoring the cold, hard facts, collectively and on purpose.

Luciano Rossi, the President of the Italian Clay Pigeon Shooting Federation held a very interesting speech, which clearly showed us how difficult it has been in Italy, too, to gather all interested parties to protect gun owners rights as a group. Colin Greenwood, a former Goldstream Guardsman, having served 24 years as a policeman in West Yorkshire and retired as a Superintendent, is a well-known author of books "Police Training" in 1966, "Police Tactics in the Use of Firearms" in 1969 and with a strong antiquarian interest in arms collecting, his most recent publication "The Classic British Rook & Rabbit Rifle" in 2006. In Cambridge University he studied the development of firearms legislation in Britain, on which was based on his groundbreaking book "Firearm Control" in 1972. Its penetrating critique of the origins and inadequacies of British firearms legislation was groundbreaking! The Ambassador Award to Colin Greenwood was genuinely well deserved!

Audrey Stucko, ATF, William F. Kullman, Executive Assistant, ATF and Stephen P. Halbrook, PH. D. Attorney at Law

For European interest groups like NRA Kansallinen Kivääriyhdistys ry, Finland, it is neccessary to meet in person with second amandment experts as Stephen P. Halbrook, Robert J. Cottrol and Kayne Robinson (NRA). The chance to meet William F. Kullman (ATF) and naturally our European collegues like Mr. Keusgen and Mr. Streitberger, to protect our rights to keep our guns, was extremely important. We are already looking forward to the next WFSA Plenary Session 2010. "United we are strong, because enemy never sleeps!"