War Calibers?

Spain, like all European countries, has pretty extensive gun control even though it is the 7th largest exporter of firearms internationally. Every firearm and its owner is registered. This registry, controlled by the Central Inspectorate for Arms and Explosives, is updated monthly. It is estimated that there are 3 million firearms and 1.1 million owners registered with most being for either target shooting or hunting.

The Spanish gun rights organization ANARMA – Asociación Nacional del Arma de Espana – is concerned those numbers could be reduced even more if a proposal to prohibit certain calibers is adopted.

The Spanish Ministry of Defense maintains a list of calibers called “war calibers”. These are the calibers of rifles and ammunition that civilians are forbidden to own.

From LibreMercado (translated using Google translator):

The Government has just opened a new front against hunters and sports shooting fans. As denounced by the National Weapons Association (Anarma) , PSOE and Podemos threaten to confiscate thousands of rifles that, today, are legal, by classifying certain calibers as “war” and, therefore, prohibited for use by civilians. The popular .30-06 Springfield and 7.62x54R could enter that new black list , according to sources from the same association.

This new prohibition coincides in time with the new Arms Regulations , which came into force on November 5, and which has created great discontent in the field of hunting, sport shooting, arms collecting and historical recreation. Not in vain, several associations have filed an administrative contentious appeal in the Supreme Court against its entry into force.

Anarma denounces that, given the difficulties in prohibiting some weapons directly, the Government is studying expanding the current list of so-called “war calibers”, created in 1993 and which had not been touched for 27 years.

The ANARMA website goes into more detail on the calibers being proposed for addition to the prohibited list:

Well, presumably the ICAE has once again influenced the DGAM to expand the list of military calibers prohibited to civilians. These are as follows:

7.62x54R

.30-06 Springfield

.458 SOCOM

5.45×39 mm SOVIET

5.7×28 mm FN

4.6 x 30 mm

5.8×21 mm Chinese

5.8×42 mm Chinese

ANARMA is especially alarmed that 7.62x54R and .30-06 Springfield are on the list. The latter is the best selling caliber of rifles and ammo in Spain.

They go on to add –

In view of the list, we believe that behind it is a distraction strategy, which we call “Jack Reacher”. As in the movie, a lot of targets are attacked, in order to hide the motives of the one who really interests. In this case, the 7.62x54R, the cartridge that fires the Mossin-Nagant, the SVT-40, the Dragunov and the Izhmash Tiger. These last three semi-automatic rifles that have always been in the ICAE’s sights. As with the new regulation, you cannot prohibit them, since they have never been FUL-AUTO, so they intend to prohibit the caliber. Possibly some others of those proposed are rejected, thus giving the appearance of a process with some formality. In short, another tease of legitimate gun users and an attack on private property and our freedoms.

I think ANARMA is correct. This is a devious way to ban firearms. Instead of saying you can’t own a Winchester 70 in .30-06, just ban the caliber as a “war caliber”.

I wonder which came first for the anti-gun movement – “weapons of war” or “war caliber”? Either way, it is a deliberate attempt by the prohibitionists to confuse the un-informed.