By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
When the Trace, the Michael Bloomberg-backed pro-gun control news outlet, recently reported on a “new” effort to influence U.S. gun policies spearheaded by the group Global Action on Gun Violence (GAGV), which represents the Mexican government in two lawsuits against the U.S. gun industry, it wasn’t really anything new.
A global gun control effort has been going on for several years, but the firearms industry and private organizations such as the Second Amendment Foundation are fighting back. There are also international organizations working to expand firearms rights, such as the World Forum on Shooting Activities (WFSA) and the International Association for the Protection of Civilian Arms Rights (IAPCAR).
Members of WFSA are meeting this week in Las Vegas at the same time the U.S. firearms industry is holding its annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show.
SAF has been an influential force in the creation and expansion of IAPCAR, and for the first time in its history, WFSA has named a woman to head that organization’s Image Committee, Julianne Hoy Versnel, who is SAF’s Vice President of International Outreach. She’s been in Las Vegas this week working on the committee effort to present the positive face of the shooting sports.
The Image committee is one of four WFSA standing committees, which also include the Legislative, Statistics and Environment committees.
She told TGM the lawsuits from Mexico are “not surprising,” but they are only the latest effort by global gun control advocates. Gun control has been pursued, discussed and debated at the United Nations—which has a statute depicting a handgun with its barrel twisted in a knot outside the building in New York City—where both Versnel and SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb have worked to defend American gun rights.
According to its website, WFSA is “an association of hunting, shooting, and industry organizations” founded in 1996. This group has more than 50 member organizations and associations from around the world, and they have “attended every major UN conference affecting hunting or sport shooting.” WFSA is an official NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) of the U.N., representing more than 100 million sport shooters around the world.
But what about the threat of global gun control’s potential to undermine the Second Amendment rights of U.S. citizens? It’s real, alright, and those involved are determined to push forward.
There is no small irony in the fact that GAGV is based in the U.S., and is involved in helping foreign governments bring action against a U.S. industry. According to its website, GAGV is a non-profit which is “working with and for the international community to prevent gun violence, using litigation, policy advocacy, and a focus on reforming dangerous gun industry practices to stop cross-border gun trafficking and reduce gun deaths and injuries.”
In a statement on the GAGV website, founder and president Jonathan Lowy explains he has been working with the Mexican government “to stop the flood of guns that pour across the U.S. border and arm the cartels.” But instead of blaming the Obama administration and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for their activities more than a decade ago in Operation Fast & Furious, GAGV is pursuing lawsuits against U.S. gun manufacturers. The group is also “handling a suit against gunmaker Smith & Wesson in Canadian court, and bringing a landmark case before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, which argues that U.S. gun policy violates its human rights obligations,” according to its website.
In an interview with The Trace, Lowy complained that the U.S. Supreme Court has made Second Amendment law “much more restrictive,” which translates to restoring the amendment’s scope as protective of an individual right, while making it tougher to adopt and justify extremist gun laws. The 2022 Bruen ruling established new guidelines for determining the constitutionality of gun control laws, which must now show some consistency with the “Second Amendment’s text and historical understanding.”
Between WFSA and IAPCAR, there is plenty of push back against this global gun control threat, at the same time domestic gun rights groups such as SAF, Gun Owners of America, the National Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition and others are challenging new, and decades-old, gun laws.
In summation, while globalist anti-gunners are a busy lot, so are national and international gun rights organizations. This battle could become more important this year as gun control becomes a major issue in the 2024 election cycle for the presidency and control of Congress.
