Firearm News
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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Europe,European Union,Albania,Macedonia,Bosnia & Herzegovina,Iraq,North Africa,Afghanistan,Serbia,Croatia
Chasing Exports, Balkan Countries Foster Gun, Ammunition Industries
24 February 2014
Southeast European Times
Balkan countries are taking measures to support domestic military firms in an effort to improve their economies and develop closer relations with NATO, experts said.
Governments pay more attention to the military industry's economic potential, said Blagoja Markovski, president of the Balkan Security Forum in Skopje.
"It offers extraordinary opportunities to create jobs and help the development of the economy. Individual countries' earnings range from tens of millions... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Southeast European 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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Bosnia & Herzegovina,Croatia,Montenegro,Slovenia,Serbia,Macedonia,Romania,Albania,Bulgaria
South East Europe Workshop Confirms Surplus Firearms a Regional Threat
8 April 2013
SEESAC (Belgrade)
On 3-5 April, the 6th Workshop of the Regional Approach to Stockpile Reduction (RASR) of Conventional Weapons and Munitions Initiative took place in Bled, Slovenia. The focus of the 6th RASR workshop were national legal frameworks regulating import, export and transit of weapons, ammunition and dual-use goods, particularly as they relate to the surplus weapons and munitions.
RASR is a regional initiative which aims to coordinate and support countries of South East... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: SEESAC (Belgrade)
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Bosnia & Herzegovina,Croatia,Eastern Europe,Romania,Greece,Bulgaria,Moldova,Macedonia,Serbia
Balkan Countries Loaded With Illegal Firearms
8 August 2012
Southeast European Times
Southeast Europe's are heavily armed – according to the South Eastern and Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, people in the region legally own 3 million firearms and another 4 million illegal weapons.
Serbia leads the region in weapons, according to Ivan Cvijovic, police inspector at the public order sector of the Belgrade police department. The rate of registered firearms per 100 people is 15.81.
Montenegro has 14.36... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Southeast European Times
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Libya,United States,Turkey,Jordan,Philippines,Iraq,Kuwait,Macedonia,Serbia
Celebratory Shooting Injuries: How Dangerous is Firing a Gun Into the Air?
22 August 2011
BBC News
Libyan rebels have celebrated their advance into Tripoli by firing guns in the air. How hazardous is this?
It is, unarguably, an emphatic way to display one's jubilation.
Shooting an automatic weapon into the sky to signal an occasion one welcomes is a popular practice in much of the world, as the footage of Libyan anti-Gaddafi forces seizing the main square of the capital city has demonstrated.
But it is a potentially fatal activity, which regularly results in the... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: BBC News
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Sri Lanka,Sudan,Malawi,Zambia,Mozambique,Macedonia,Liberia,Sierra Leone,West Africa,Africa,South Africa
Africa: Analysis: How Best to Remove Guns from Post-conflict Zones?
28 July 2011
IRIN (UN News)
JOHANNESBURG - Cash for guns or buy-back programmes in post-conflict states have fallen out of favour as a method of ridding a society of weapons, and have been replaced by often elaborate schemes designed to remove money from the equation, but the debate continues as to the best way forward.
The disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) community has grappled for years with buy-back practices and acknowledges they can have a profound effect on the nature of... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: IRIN (UN News)
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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
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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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Macedonia
Alleged Gun Traffickers Arrested, Assault Rifles Seized in Macedonia
18 May 2009
BBC Worldwide Monitoring / Utrinski Vesnik, Transcript
The police have arrested three and are still searching for two arms trafficking suspects. In an operation codenamed "Barrage," the police detained two Studenicani residents at a parking lot near Skopje Hemteks plant and found several automatic rifles in their vehicle. In a subsequent action in Strumica they also arrested S.S. (aged 43) and are still on the lookout for two more — D.S. (37) from the Kumanovo village of Opae and R.R. (53) from Skopje, who are charged... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: BBC Worldwide Monitoring / Utrinski Vesnik
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Macedonia
In Macedonia, An Estimated 170,000 Citizens Own Illegal Firearms
16 August 2007
SEESAC (Belgrade) / Vreme (Skopje)
170,000 citizens of the Republic of Macedonia illegally own various kinds of weapon, according to the evaluation and the statistics of the Macedonian Ministry of Interior and UNDP. This information is even more worrying if we take into consideration the fact that total of 160,000 citizens who legally own weapon and have license for it are registered in our country.
As of the beginning of this year the police in organized actions seized total of 258 pieces of weapon... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: SEESAC (Belgrade) / Vreme (Skopje)
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Macedonia
Another Stray Bullet Injures 4yr-old Girl in Macedonia Playground
6 August 2007
Dnevnik (Macedonia), Transcript
The celebration bullets kill people too. We seem to not be able to learn this lesson, and because of that, we are often witnesses of incidents in which stray bullets end up hitting innocent bystanders. A family celebration for someone can easily become tragedy for others.
Only by chance the 4-year-old Jana from Skopje did not end up being the new victim of the stray bullets, and from representation of life and hope to be turned into just a statistical figure. She was... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Dnevnik (Macedonia)
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Macedonia,Bulgaria
Macedonia Announces Inquiry Into Truckloads of Seized NATO Guns
17 December 2006
BBC Worldwide Monitoring / MIA, Transcript
The court decision will provide final evaluation of what exactly happened three days ago [14 December] when the police seized firearms, stated late Saturday [16 December] Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska after the meeting with Defence Minister Lazar Elenovski.
According to Jankulovska, currently there are doubts whether it has been a disorganized transport of firearms, but the court trial is to determine what exactly happened.
Jankulovska said she didn't receive... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: BBC Worldwide Monitoring / MIA
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Macedonia,Bulgaria
Arrests, 3 Trucks of NATO Guns Suggest Macedonia-Bulgaria Gun Running
16 December 2006
SEESAC (Belgrade) / Focus
The case about three Bulgarian trucks transporting Macedonian weapons, which were seized in Skopje, is getting more and more complicated. Yesterday it was reported that the police stopped to check the trucks because they travelled without being escorted and without having the necessary documents. The Ministry of Defense announced that the weapons were old and would be exchanged for equipment, which is necessary to the Macedonian army. The police, however, are checking... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: SEESAC (Belgrade) / Focus
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Macedonia,Bulgaria
Four Bulgarians Arrested for Smuggling NATO Guns in Macedonia
16 December 2006
SEESAC (Belgrade) / AP
Police seized three trucks loaded with weapons and arrested four Bulgarian men on smuggling charges, authorities said Saturday.
The four suspects — aged between 26 to 48 — were taken into custody late Thursday after police searched the unescorted trucks with Bulgarian license plates on a highway near the capital, Skopje. They found 300 new German-made MG-3 machine guns and 33 M-43 mine-throwers.
Police did not disclose the destination of the convoy.
The suspects... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: SEESAC (Belgrade) / AP
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