Although the Convention on the Control of the Acquisition and Possession of Firearms by Individuals, opened for signature on June 28, 1978, has not achieved harmonization of the gun control laws of the various Council of Europe member states, it does nevertheless constitute a considerable step towards increased gun control. Signed by only four member countries on the day it opened for signature, it has now been signed by eight countries (August 1, 1980). The countries are Cyprus, Denmark, Federal Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. The Convention's aim is to control the acquisition of firearms abroad. It is designed to prevent a private individual from acquiring weapons abroad, unknown to the authorities in the person's usual country of residence, and then bringing those weapons back into the country of residence and using them for criminal purposes. This control can be effected by prior control by the authority in the country of residence or a retrospective control procedure whereby the authority in the country where the weapon is acquired informs the acquirer's county of residence that a weapon has been sold to one of its nationals. The Convention uses a compromise between these two alternatives, with each system applying to certain categories of weapons. Fourteen groups of weapons are covered by the Convention.