Controlling movements of firearms between countries

Criminals and warlords alike profit from the trafficking of arms across borders, and with European countries differing in their attitudes towards owning guns, streamlined cross-border policies are important to tackle a potentially fatal trade. The 1979 Convention on the Control of the Acquisition and Possession of Firearms was prompted by a rise in violent crime in the Council of Europe region and was the first attempt to stop trade over frontiers. Countries agreed to carry out their own audit of weapons – whether handguns or military equipment – and commit to controls including a ‘notification’ system when a weapon is sold or transferred, or a system where transactions cannot take place without agreement from the two states concerned. Member states also agreed to share information to help them stop illegal trafficking and track missing firearms.

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