EU talks on banning deadliest semi-automatic weapons hit deadlock

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS | Tue Dec 6, 2016 | 1:30pm EST

EU talks on banning deadliest semi-automatic weapons hit deadlock

Talks on an EU-wide ban on some of the most lethal semi-automatic assault weapons, including the Kalashnikov prized by militants the world over, broke down on Tuesday amid disputes over definitions of firearm types.

The executive European Commission is at odds with member states and the European Parliament over its plan to prohibit private citizens from owning weapons like the Russian-made Kalashnikov, or AK-47, and the U.S.-produced M-16.

The measure is part of an overall tightening of EU rules governing the purchase and sale of such weapons since two Islamist gunmen shot dead 11 people in the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015 and militants killed 130 people in attacks in Paris in November last year.

Nearly seven hours of negotiations on the proposal broke off in Tuesday's pre-dawn hours amid wrangling over the legal definition of semi-automatic firearms, EU sources said.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-attacks-guns-idUSKBN13V2EF