Firearm News
Kosovo,Eastern Europe
NATO Prepared to Intervene in Kosovo
1 August 2022
The Hill (Washington DC)
The NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) is "prepared to intervene if stability is jeopardized" by the Kosovo-Serbia conflict, according to a KFOR statement Sunday.
"KFOR will take whatever measures are necessary to keep a safe and secure environment in Kosovo at all times, in line with its UN mandate," the statement read. KFOR reported that the situation in northern Kosovo is "tense" and under close watch by the force.
Tensions between the two countries have heightened... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: The Hill (Washington DC)
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Kosovo
Kosovo Destroys 2,382 Seized Guns
7 July 2016
SEESAC (Belgrade)
Kosovo* joined the annual International Gun Destruction Day on 7 July 2016 by destroying over 2382 pieces of small arms and light weapons (SALW), including 888 short firearms and 1494 long firearms. The weapons marked for destruction have been confiscated by the Kosovo Police during their crime investigation work. The destruction is conducted with support from the German Foreign Office and United Nations Development Programme.
The event was also used to launch social... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: SEESAC (Belgrade)
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European Union,Albania,Bosnia & Herzegovina,Bulgaria,Croatia,Greece,Kosovo,Macedonia,Montenegro,Serbia,Turkey
European Commission Tightens Gun Control Across the EU
18 November 2015
European Commission - Press release
The European Commission today adopted a package of measures to make it more difficult to acquire firearms in the European Union, better track legally held firearms, strengthen cooperation between Member States, and ensure that deactivated firearms are rendered inoperable. The proposals presented today were foreseen in the European Security Agenda adopted in April 2015, but have been significantly accelerated in light of recent events. The Commission is hereby supporting... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: European Commission - Press release
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France,Bosnia & Herzegovina,Croatia,Kosovo,Macedonia,Montenegro,Serbia
How Did the 13 November Paris Killers Get Their Guns?
17 November 2015
Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
How Did the 13 November Paris Killers Get Their Guns?
Full details of the arms used in the 13 November massacres will emerge in time. This post provides some information on illicit automatic weapons, such as the Kalashnikov, in France, and how they reach illicit markets.
Overall, it appears that there is a pool of several thousand illicit military style firearms in France and relatively small numbers are trafficked in from abroad. Such quantities mean that terrorists... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
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Albania,Kosovo
Albania Arrests Six for Arms Trafficking
14 February 2014
Balkan Insight (Sarajevo)
Six suspects, including a police officer and an employee of the Ministry of Interior, were arrested on Thursday, accused of arms trafficking between Albania and Kosovo.
During the arrest of the suspects, police sequestered four AK-47 automatic rifles, 12,780 rounds of ammunition and a number of spare parts for automatic weapons.
"The operation for their arrest was finalized outside the Kalimash tunnel, [on the highway that connects Albania with Kosovo] while the... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Balkan Insight (Sarajevo)
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Denmark,Southern Europe,Eastern Europe,Norway,Sweden,Croatia,Kosovo,Albania,Montenegro,Serbia
Balkan Police Work to Raise Public Awareness Against Arms Trafficking
25 October 2013
Southeast European Times
Increasing police co-operation and raising public awareness about the danger from firearms is the key to limiting the trafficking of illegal weapons in the Balkans, experts said.
Civil society groups estimated there are millions of small and light arms that are widely available.
"The significant number of circulating small and light weapons creates a fertile ground for the general sense of insecurity, vulnerability of citizens to armed violence and serious crime, with... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Southeast European Times
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Switzerland,Kosovo
Drunk Kosovo Man Shoots, Kills Wife After Divorce Request
1 May 2013
Croatian Times
A Kosovan man who shot his Swiss wife dead at the bus stop when she refused to consider changing her mind about divorcing him - and then went for a beer at a local pub - has claimed her death was her own fault.
Afrim Mujaj, 45, then sat calmly watching as ambulances sped by in a bid to try and save the life of his 35-year-old wife Mirvete in Riniken, Switzerland. And as emergency services tried in vain to keep her alive - the court heard he bought rounds of drinks for... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Croatian Times
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Serbia,Montenegro,Bosnia & Herzegovina,Kosovo,Slovenia,Croatia,Macedonia,United States,England & Wales,Yemen
Citizens in Former Yugoslavia 'Traumatised and Heavily Armed'
10 April 2013
Washington Post
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — The wars from 1991 to 1999 as Yugoslavia broke up took up to 200,000 lives, turned millions into refugees and left much of the region's people traumatized and heavily armed. It was the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II.
The millions of weapons that remained in possession of civilians after the fighting have caused fatalities every week, as traumatized former soldiers either shoot family members or commit suicide or... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Washington Post
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Kosovo,Switzerland
Kosovar Man Admits Shooting Brother-in-Law, Authorities Seize Gun
1 November 2012
Local (Switzerland)
Cooperation between Vaud and Neuchâtel cantonal police forces led to the arrest on Thursday of a Kosovar man suspected of murdering his brother-in-law in a Lausanne suburb earlier this week.
The 27-year-old-man was arrested in La Chaux-de-Fonds at 1.30am following an investigation by the two forces, Vaud police said.
The dead body of a 29-year-old Swiss man of Kosovar origin was found on Monday with bullet wounds in a garage in Chavannes-près-Renens, west of... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Local (Switzerland)
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Bosnia & Herzegovina,Croatia,Hungary,Albania,Bulgaria,Kosovo
A 5th of Bosnia & Herzegovina Population Own 750,000 Unregistered Arms
12 January 2012
Southeast European Times
An estimated fifth of Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) population own 750,000 unregistered weapons, according to officials who cite widespread availability and easy access on the black market as a major source of concern.
"After traffic accidents, illegal arms are the most common cause of death in BiH. About 90% of illegal acts are done with the use of illegal weapons," Denis Hadzovic of the Centre for Security Studies in BiH told SETimes.
Most illegal weapons are guns... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Southeast European Times
35736
Montenegro,Bosnia & Herzegovina,European Union,Serbia,Eastern Europe,Southern Europe,Croatia,Kosovo,Albania
Balkan Countries Work to Round Up Privately Held Guns, Ammunition
5 September 2011
Southeast European Times (Pristina)
The statistics about gun ownership regionwide are surprising and the results can be deadly. In Albania alone, for example, analyst Jonuz Kola estimated this summer that 6% to 9% of the population has a weapon in the home. Scores of accidental shootings occur, including that of a 9-year-old in Shkodra, who died at the hands of his 11-year-old brother on July 18th.
Xhavit Shala, an expert within the Albanian Interior Ministry notes that in 1997, a considerable amount of... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Southeast European Times (Pristina)
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Kosovo,Albania,Montenegro,Serbia,Macedonia
Macedonia, Albania Discuss Kosovo Gun Trafficking, More Border Seizures
14 May 2010
SEESAC (Belgrade) / RTA
After two confrontations with renegades, the Police cracked down on Tetovo Novo Selo again, arrested four persons and seized a number of weapons, ammunition and explosives. The situation in Macedonia is stable, KFOR reinforced its fast intervention units in the region of Sar Planina.
A minimum three persons were arrested in the night action of Macedonian special units in Novo Selo, near Tetovo, a town on the west of the country, only two days after the most serious... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: SEESAC (Belgrade) / RTA
32704
Macedonia,Kosovo
Kosovo Police Find Another Gun, Ammo Cache Near Macedonia Border
30 April 2010
Balkan Insight (Sarajevo)
Seven people have been arrested on suspicion of weapons smuggling near Kosovo's border with Macedonia. Kosovo Police said that it discovered a stash of weapons in a car on Thursday in the village of Begrac, near Kacanik, southern Kosovo.
A search of nearby homes and businesses then uncovered more weapons, military uniforms, six boxes of fuses, an automatic rifle, six grenades and detonation wires.
The incident came after another stash of weapons were found near Blace... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Balkan Insight (Sarajevo)
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Macedonia,Kosovo
Macedonian Police Discover Large Gun, Ammo Cache at Kosovo Border
30 April 2010
Balkan Insight (Sarajevo)
Macedonian police on Thursday seized a large stash of personal firearms and explosives hidden in several bunkers in the mountainous terrain near the border with Kosovo. On Friday, the police reported that they had found an additional large cache of weapons, including sniper rifles, mortars, and missiles, in the same area, as their search continues.
Unofficially local media reported that several armed and uniformed men who were guarding the weapons on Thursday opened... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Balkan Insight (Sarajevo)
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Kosovo
350,000 Illicit Guns 'Loose' in Kosovo, Still a Serious Problem - Report
21 July 2009
Saferworld / Balkan Insight (Sarajevo), Media release
Civilian possession of illicit weapons remains a serious problem in Kosovo and the region, Saferworld said in a press conference in Pristina on Tuesday.
According to a new Saferworld report, around 350,000 illicit small arms and light weapons remain in private possession in households across the country. Kosovo is currently estimated to have a population of around 2 million people.
Saferworld Director Henry Smith told the press that the report, which is the fifth in a... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Saferworld / Balkan Insight (Sarajevo)
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Kosovo
Civilians Hold More Than 300,000 Illegal Guns in Kosovo, Survey Shows
6 June 2008
BBC Worldwide Monitoring / KosovaLive, Transcript
More than 300,000 illegal small weapons are in Kosova [Kosovo], based on a research by the UNDP, whereas 49 persons were killed and 57 were wounded by these weapons in 2007. This was said today at a debate in Mitrovice [Mitrovica] in the framework of the campaign, "World Week Against Violence With Weapons."
The head of the project, Enver Kqiku, from the Kosova Centre for International Cooperation said that such debates are taking place in some cities of Kosova aiming... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: BBC Worldwide Monitoring / KosovaLive
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Kosovo
Gun Destruction Programme Targets 400,000 Illegal Weapons in Kosovo
5 March 2008
BBC Worldwide Monitoring / KosovaLive, Transcript
Although different organizations evaluate that there are more than 400,000 illegal weapons in Kosova [Kosovo], the high officers of the Kosova Police Service (ShPK) say that Kosova is a very safe country and that the citizens do not have to worry over this issue.
These comments were made during the signing of the handover of documents of the support for ShPK by international organizations and diplomatic offices, for the establishment of infrastructure within the ShPK,... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: BBC Worldwide Monitoring / KosovaLive
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