In
the last few years the pressures to increase gun laws everywhere have
intensified many times over, and lawful Canadian firearm owners well
know this. There has been a rising awareness also that legislative
practices have been circulated amongst authorities throughout the
global village. Many of them have been of the failing variety, but that
has often not mattered. More than at any time in history, citizens of
countries from one side of the world to the other have faced being
saddled with regulatory practices not derived from local knowledge -
being placed on the receiving end of answers to questions that have not
been asked where they live, but in different societies, with different
needs.
The World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities
(WFSA) was formed in answer to this fact. Its aim is to protect the
interests of sporting and recreational firearm users. The Forum's
headquarters are in Brussels and its Secretariat has offices in Italy
and the USA.
A
practical result of the need to internationalize, the World Forum has
cemented itself as the voice of the international shooter by having
attained its vitally important official position as a Non-Governmental
Organization (NGO) in Roster Consultative Status with the Economic & Social Council of the United Nations. It is free to attend UN meetings involving firearm-related matters.
A
typical meeting of the Forum involves representatives from Australia,
Africa, America, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and Europe. Matters of
interest are already long, and the list of likely subjects is rapidly
expanding. The Environment Sub-Committee, as one example, deals with
such matters as metal and noise pollution on ranges and shooting
grounds, management responsibilities for contamination, the effects of
Chronic Wasting Disease, and range use rights.
On
the Forum's website there is now a steadily accumulating body of
knowledge that reflects the international shooting community's areas of
concern. For instance, the Environment section carries a free
publication certain to turn into a core document for consultation by
those engaged in handling shooting ranges. This is a handbook for range
managers, produced by one of the European members, The Association of
European Manufacturers of Ammunition (AFEMS). Such sharing of
information is central to the Forum's existence.
The
WFSA is an association of associations with over thirty members
worldwide. Participants include, among others, the South African
Gunowners Association, ANPAM (Italian firearms manufacturers), AFEMS
(European ammunition manufacturers, Asociacion Armera (Spanish
manufacturers), the British Shooting Sports Council, Forum Waffenrecht
(Germany), the National Rifle Association of America, SAAMI (American
manufacturers), Safari Club International and the Sporting Shooters
Association of Australia.
Canada's
National Firearms Association was accepted for Membership in the World
Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities in 2003.
United
Nations matters take up a considerable slab of the Forum's time. For
instance, there are unremitting pushes for the indelible marking (as in
serial numbers) of firearms, and this issue, with its relation to
military and sporting firearms alike, has been the focus of much
attention.
Another
body vital in the process of informing and educating the international
community is a subset of the Forum, the Manufacturers Advisory Group(
MAG). Numerous of the Forum's conferences and workshops have focused on
international firearm matters over the last few years, and the reports
generated by these workshops become the primary source of information
on the topics. The Government Group of Experts approved by the 2001 UN
Small Arms and Light Weapons conference engaged with the Manufacturers
Advisory Group with a view to increasing their understanding of issues
surrounding the transfer of firearms between countries at a meeting
held in Geneva Switzerland. The value of these exchanges cannot be
overstated. It is of paramount importance that the lawful owner of
firearms should have a voice, in this time when more and more people,
particularly in the media, are convinced that all firearm ownership is
a negative force in any society.
The
WFSA was the coordinating body for the world's firearms community at
the UN Conference on Small Arms and Light Weapons, held in July, 2001,
in New York. A UN Conference can be a continuing arrangement, rather
than an event. This one handed authority to an internationally drawn
Group of Government Experts to consider a future binding legal
instrument on gun-related matters.
It
is at this level that the World Forum is now making representation. The
next Small Arms conference in the set was held in July of this year.
The WFSA also organized a conference in London in May, 2003. Its title
was: Legal, Economic and Human Rights Implications of Civilian Firearms Ownership and Regulation.
With its history and its continuing presence in the area, the Forum had
not long before been invited to make a submission to the UN through its
Special Rapporteur, Professor Barbara Frey, on the human rights
implications of small arms ownership. That conference was a logical
extension of the Forum's movement into the area.
The
World Forum continues to monitor all international firearms regulation
matters at the UN, the EU and other organizations. Other questions
affecting the international shooting community are being raised
continually - environmental issues such as lead and noise, ammunition
and explosives, the tracing of firearms, the definitions of firearms,
the welfare and seasonal hunting of animal populations, the image of
the sport shooter... there is a constant need for the affairs of the
lawful sporting shooter, and no less so the affairs of the lawful
firearms manufacturer and trader, to be transparent.
The
truth is that they are, but all too often in the past, there had been
no international group to say so, and to demonstrate them.
The
activities of the lawful sport shooter are not to be confused with the
illicit arms transfers of rogue governments carrying out genocides. In
its populist activities such as the Sport Shooting Ambassador Award,
and the more governmentally-oriented production of its workshops and
symposiums, the WFSA now speaks for the legal firearm owners in all
countries. Its expertise is being sought more and more by government
groups worldwide.
Canada's
National Firearms Association is a proud Member of the World Forum on
the Future of Sport Shooting Activities. National President, David A. Tomlinson is on the WFSA Executive Committee.
The
National Firearms Association serves on the UN/Legislative Committee,
the Environment Committee, the Image of Shooting Sports Committee, and
the Research and Statistics Committee.{mosauthorxtd noshow}