Gun sellers strike over hunting ban

A one-day strike will be held in Lebanon on July 30 by gun merchants who claim that the two-year-old ban on hunting has hurt their profits, an announcement said.

Michel Diab, the chairman of the Hunting Weapons Merchants Association said that gun merchants will stage the strike call of the abolition of the prohibition.

He said up to 400 businessmen were threatened with closure as a result of the ban with up to 2,000 families affected by job losses.

The ban, imposed at the beginning of 1995, outlaws all hunting of birds and animals.

Diab argued that the ban is ruining businesses associated with hunting, and added that falling weapons sales and imports are leading to a reduction in treasury revenues.

He added that the government was inconsistent in banning the sport of hunting, and that the government's inconsistency caused people associated with the sport significant financial damage.

He claimed the original regulations for hunting were renewed in 1993, allowing the hunting of 13 bird species out of a total of 226 in Lebanon.

"But, only three and a half months later, the government announced the ban," he said.