Mr. Iñaki Odriozola
President

The efforts made by the industrial group of gunsmiths and arms dealers is backed by almost 50 years of experience, and this group has decided to reorganize itself in order to meet the new challenges posed by the 21th Century.

Joined together under the umbrella of the “Firearms Association”, both manufacturers and importers / distributors of sport arms and its accessories, are striving to safeguard the interests of the sector they are engaged in so as to be able to successfully meet the existing challenges, namely, more stringent regulations on the manufacturing, distribution and use of all the necessary elements to practice the sport of hunting and shooting, the ongoing international market changes and the decrease in game species, among others.

It could be said that, in general terms, during many years our activity has been subject to an unfavorable treatment by public opinion, due mainly to a deficient communication regarding both the nature and characteristics of our day-to-day activities.

For all those who are well acquainted with this activity, there is no need to stress either our legitimacy or, even more, the need to be granted institutional support in order to carry out a business activity that has recorded a high sales volume and whose products enjoy international prestige.

However, as far as the public at large is concerned, their lack of knowledge of many of these factors, together with the biased treatment given by mass media to certain isolated shattering events where a firearm is involved, do really hinder an unbiased and fair view about this sector’s growth.

As we firmly believe that the best formula to face the general widespread trend of criticizing and discrediting a respectable business activity, the “Firearms Association” has implemented an action program intended to protect the sector, which is focused on the following four actions:

•  Exercise of pressure on both the relevant Spanish institutions (e.g. Department of Home Affairs, Department of Trade and Industry and Tourism) and the European Community institutions, so that both the interests and opinion of the sector are not ignored when negotiating the legislative reforms that might have an effect on it.

• Provision of legal assistance to members where they are imposed penalties or where their rights might be infringed.

• Design of Training Plans for Armory workers.

• Promotion of the business activity of this group of companies both in Spain and abroad, by encouraging their presence in trade fairs and events taking place in the home market, in the international trade fairs SHOT Show (USA), IWA (Germany) and ARMS & HUNTING (Russia), as well as by means of direct one-off trade missions in different countries.Mr. Iñaki Odriozola President.

However, the institutional support we have been granted to promote this business abroad, together with the effort expended in all the activities resulting from this tripartite program, will become useless if our lawful rights as a sector committed to the defense of its present position within the economy and the development of two sporting disciplines such as hunting and sport shooting are not duly acknowledged.