A BULLET IN THE FENCE
MIROSŁAW PIOTROWSKI
After the terroristic assassinations in Paris, the European Commission decided to make provisions concerning fire weapon stricter. In fact this policy leads to a serious restriction of selling personal, hunting and sport weapon. The project raises great controversies and emotions. On behalf of the European Commission it is piloted by the Polish commissioner Elżbieta Bieńskowska, responsible for the inner market. A lot of countries are protesting now, such as Finland and the Czech Republic. The Chief of the Inner Affairs of our southern neighbouring country stated that this project ‘is deprived of all kinds of logics’. For, it is impossible to disarm people in such dangerous times. Hunting groups in Poland are seriously concerned. They accuse the commissioner Bienkowska of ‘a disgusting lie’. For the commissioner had stated that she had had social consultations with them and gained their approval. It turns out that there were not any consultations. Bieńkowska does not conceal that she is aiming at complete prohibition of owning self-repetitive weapon in the European Union. However, what is the most interesting, is the logics of the starting point. Well, the Polish commissioner thinks that depriving people of access to weapon – will decrease the danger of terrorism. Arguments that during the assassinations terrorists use illegal weapon, unregistered or made by themselves are ignored. It outrages the Polish shooting groups which are protesting. So, it turns out that the Polish commissioner, holding her post in Brussels, can quarrel not only with her subordinated directors or employees, but also with groups in Poland. It is surprising, especially in the context of the last political changes in our country, whose the current commissioner, and earlier the prominent activist of the Civic Platform, is not an enthusiast. In Brussels she expressed her attitude for the idea of Frans Timmerman about beginning a EU procedure by the European Commission, controlling the breach of rules of law by the Polish government. In other words she thinks that elected legal authorities in Poland may endanger freedom of citizens, who should be protected from tyranny. However, how to make it compatible with activity connected with restriction of EU citizens’ access to weapon, including Poland? Years ago, the president of the USA Thomas Jefferson said: ‘The strongest reason to maintain the right for owning and carrying weapon by people is the fact that it is the last means for them to defend themselves from the tyranny of the government’. And if it is so, then, doesn’t the current policy of the commissioner aim a bullet in the fence, against her will?
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„Niedziela” 19/2016