Text proposed by the Commission (9) Some semi-automatic firearms can be easily converted to automatic firearms, thus posing a threat to security. Even in the absence of conversion to category "A", certain semi-automatic firearms may be very dangerous when their capacity regarding the number of rounds is high. Such semi-automatic weapons should therefore be banned for civilian use. Amendment (9) There is a risk that any firearms converted to firing blanks, irritants, other active substances or pyrotechnic ammunition can be converted back in such a way as to make them capable of firing live ammunition. Such firearms should therefore remain in the categories in which they were classified prior to their conversion. Justification The proposal to recategorise cat B.7 would cause many practical problems in implementation and has been tried and rejected in certain Member States. The Rapporteur instead makes a series of alternative proposals. Firearms converted to firing blanks should remain in their original categories due to the particular risks associated with them. Automatic firearms converted to semi-automatic (as well as, for the avoidance of any doubt, semi-automatic firearms converted to automatic) should be in category A.