Firearm News
North Africa,Slovakia,Czech Republic,France,Serbia,Burkina Faso,Mali
Sahel: Serbian Weapons Used by Brutal Armed Groups
24 August 2021
Amnesty International
Amnesty International's arms experts have identified Serbian-manufactured weapons in videos posted by armed groups operating in the Sahel, including an Islamic State affiliate which has claimed responsibility for hundreds of civilian deaths. The new rifles, some the latest available models, match trade records of Serbia's sales to Burkina Faso, suggesting the weapons were recently sold to the government before falling into the hands of armed groups.
Amnesty... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Amnesty International
40629
Syria,Iraq,Slovakia,European Union
Europe Split on Reforms and Regulations to Curb Gun Violence
14 November 2016
EUObserver (Belgium)
EU lawmakers are meeting on Tuesday (15 November) for another round of backroom talks to curb gun violence and prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons on the black market.
Debates around the European Commission's EU firearms directive reform, proposed in the aftermath the Paris November terrorist attacks, appears to be advancing as positions converge between the two co-legislatures at the European Parliament and the Council, representing member states.
"There is a... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: EUObserver (Belgium)
40180
Slovakia
Slovakia 'Main Supplier' of Guns to Terrorists in Europe [ES]
7 September 2016
Terra (Argentina)
[Translated summary: Slovakia has become one of the main suppliers of guns to the black market. Until last year, companies were allowed to sell old weapons that had been disabled. However, it was very easy to make the weapons operational again. New regulations ban online sales and demand companies to use other methods for disabling.]
Un agujero legal, la falta de controles y la búsqueda de beneficio económico han hecho de Eslovaquia uno de los principales... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Terra (Argentina)
39801
Yemen,Syria,South Sudan,United States,Bulgaria,Czech Republic,France,Italy,Egypt,Ukraine,Moldova,Slovakia,United Kingdom,Saudi Arabia,Germany,Spain
UN: No Tolerance for States Who Flout Arms Trade Treaty
22 August 2016
Amnesty International (London)
- States Parties [countries] still engaging in unscrupulous arms transfers, putting lives and human rights at risk
- More than a quarter of States Parties are yet to meet the treaty's reporting obligations
- Some States Parties opting to reject public scrutiny of their arms transfers
States must ensure the global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) lives up to its promise to save lives and protect human rights from the devastating effects of the international arms trade by taking... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Amnesty International (London)
39721
United Kingdom,Slovakia
How Illegal Firearms Find their Way Onto British Streets
20 June 2016
The Conversation (USA)
How it is possible to get hold of weapons in Britain despite tough laws that restrict their ownership and use? This strict firearm legislation, enacted chiefly through the Firearms Act 1968 and amendments following the 1987 Hungerford mass shooting and 1996 Dunblane mass shooting, has reduced the number of purpose-made firearms in circulation. This has contributed to the number of firearms offences (including those using airguns and air rifles) falling from a high of... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: The Conversation (USA)
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Europe,Eastern Europe,Croatia,Bulgaria,France,Albania,Saudi Arabia,Syria,Serbia,West Asia,Iraq,Yemen,Slovakia,Sudan
Balkan Gun Trade Fuels Crime, Terrorism in Europe, Asia
16 April 2016
Economist
The arsenal discovered in the apartment of Reda Kriket, a suspected terrorist arrested on March 24th near Paris, included explosives, Kalashnikov AK-47 rifles and a machine pistol from Croatia. The terrorists who staged the attacks last November in Paris employed AK-47s made by Zastava, a Serbian manufacturer. The Kouachi brothers, who attacked the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo the previous January, used Kalashnikov ammunition made in Bosnia. Whatever else these... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Economist
39179
France,Slovakia,Germany,Eastern Europe,United Kingdom
East Europe's Shadow Gun Market Fuels Terrorism in West
18 March 2016
Black Sea, Der Spiegel, Le Soir
The trafficking of Communist-era weapons leads from a Slovakian website to last year's ISIS terror attack in Paris and new regulations have failed to stop the sale of deadly weapons to criminals, we can reveal.
7 January 2015. Chérif Kouachi and his brother Said leave a bloodbath in the newsroom of magazine Charlie Hebdo. Two days later, Kouachi's close contact, Amedy Coulibaly, assaults the kosher supermarket Hyper Cacher in Paris.
When Coulibaly takes the... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Black Sea, Der Spiegel, Le Soir
38961
Sweden,Slovakia
New Slovakia Law to Limit Gun Smuggling to Sweden
5 July 2015
Local (Sweden)
Sweden's comparatively strict weapons laws ensure that authorities have a tight control on registered arms.
But after a weapons amnesty conducted in 2013, police established that a surprising number of illegal firearms were in circulation in Sweden.
Last year 115 firearms were seized by the Swedish customs authorities and it was revealed that large proportion of these had been bought over the internet from Slovakia, where the law regarding plugged - or deactivated -... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Local (Sweden)
39022
Slovenia,Malta,El Salvador,Denmark,Croatia,Hungary,Finland,Estonia,France,Spain,Italy,Bulgaria,United Kingdom,Germany,Slovakia,Ireland,Latvia,Romania
Methodists Welcome 18 Countries Ratifying Arms Trade Treaty Including UK
3 April 2014
Christian Today
The Methodist Church has praised the government's ratification of the UN's Arms Trade Treaty.
The President of the Methodist Conference, the Reverend Ruth Gee, hailed it as a "legal milestone that should help to protect those who are abused and oppressed".
Countries that ratify the treaty will be required to establish national arms regulators to control the exporting of conventional weapons and weapons components, and to properly regulate arms brokers. Domestic weapon... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Christian Today
38541
Italy,United Kingdom,Slovakia,Germany,Romania,France,Spain,Bulgaria,Croatia,Malta,Denmark,El Salvador,Estonia,Finland,Hungary,Ireland,Slovenia,European Union,Latvia
18 Countries Ratify UN Arms Trade Treaty
2 April 2014
Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS — Eighteen countries, including five of the world's leading arms exporters, ratified a landmark treaty regulating the multibillion-dollar global arms trade on Wednesday, giving a significant boost to the campaign for the treaty's entry into force.
The ambassadors of the 18 countries handed over the documents at a U.N. ceremony on the first anniversary of the General Assembly's adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty, which is aimed at stemming the global... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Associated Press
38525
Slovakia,Austria,Azerbaijan,Serbia,Russia,Armenia,Turkey,Romania,Czech Republic,Croatia,United States,Bulgaria,Ukraine,Southern Europe,Georgia,Eastern Europe
South Caucasian Republics Purchased 107,324 Small Arms in 2005-2010
4 January 2012
Milaz.info (Azerbaïdjan)
The South Caucasian republics purchased 107 324 small arms from various countries of the world in 2005-2010.
APA reports quoting the UN Register of Conventional Arms that Georgia takes the first place among the South Caucasian republics on purchase of small arms during this period.
Georgia bought 76 377 small arms from 7 countries. The submachine guns, short rifles, pistols, automatic rifles, pistol-machineguns, heavy machineguns, grenade launchers as well as the... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Milaz.info (Azerbaïdjan)
35704
Slovakia
Slovakia Mass Shooting May Lead to Private Machine Guns Being Banned
2 September 2010
New York Times
PRAGUE — As Slovakia held a day of mourning Thursday to honor the victims of Monday's violent rampage in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, a picture began to emerge of the killer, an unemployed loner who the police said had participated in shooting contests and may have harbored resentment against his Roma victims.
The killing spree, in which six members of a Roma family were killed — including a 12-year-old boy — has shaken Slovakia, a small and predominantly... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: New York Times
33277
Slovakia
Slovak Rampage Gunman Killed 7 with Assault Rifle He Owned Legally
1 September 2010
Agence France Presse
A gunman who killed seven people and wounded at least 13 in a rampage in Bratislava was in legal possession of the assault rifle he used, police said Tuesday.
The gunman, who killed himself after the Monday shooting spree, was a 48-year-old man from Devinska Nova Ves, the outskirts of the Slovak capital where the shooting took place, police said in a statement.
"The police found an SA Vz.58 assault rifle. He also had two handguns and several full magazines. The man... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Agence France Presse
33259
Slovakia
Gun Club Target Shooter with Legal Assault Rifle Killed 7, Self in Slovakia
31 August 2010
Agence France Presse
BRATISLAVA — Conflicts with his Roma neighbours were a likely motive behind a shooting rampage in which a gunman killed seven people in Bratislava before turning the gun on himself, police said Tuesday.
Lubomir Harman, 48, whose victims included his five Roma neighbours, their relative and a woman standing on a balcony, was shot by a police bullet to the chest before he killed himself, the police added, a day after the bloodbath.
"We don't yet know the motive, but... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Agence France Presse
33263
Slovakia
Man Wounds 15, Kills 7, Self with Assault Rifle in Slovakia Family Killing
31 August 2010
Agence France Presse
A man armed with an assault rifle shot seven people dead, wounded 15 and then turned the gun on himself in a Monday morning rampage on a street in the Slovak capital Bratislava, the police said.
"A man in his fifties shot six people dead and eventually killed himself after the police cornered him as he tried to escape the crime scene," police commander Jaroslav Spisiak told reporters.
"The seventh victim, a 52-year old woman, didn't belong to the murdered family and... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: Agence France Presse
33232
Slovakia
Slovakia Launches Gun Amnesty, Aims to Collect Unregistered Firearms
10 September 2009
SITA Online (Baratislava)
BRATISLAVA — As of October, citizens of Slovakia will have seven months to hand in illegally held arms and ammunition without being charged for it.
This stems from amendment to the law on arms and ammunition, which lawmakers approved in the third reading. Of the 129 deputies present in the150-member parliament, 119 supported the bill.
The ministry estimates that the number of illegally held firearms and ammunition will decrease thanks to the amnesty, and will also... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: SITA Online (Baratislava)
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Slovakia,United States,Afghanistan,Albania,Bulgaria,Romania,Czech Republic,Hungary
Slovakia Sold Ammunition to Miami Gun Dealer, Pentagon for Afghan War
8 April 2008
BBC Worldwide Monitoring / SME (Bratislava), Transcript
Slovakia has traded in arms with the AEY company, which is being investigated over fraud in the United States. The daily New York Times found out that the company had been selling old Chinese ammunition from Albania to the Afghanis for decades, claiming that it was from Hungary.
It purchased other weapons and munitions for the Afghanis in Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. It is not clear what exactly happened to the munitions and under what... (GunPolicy.org)
Read More: BBC Worldwide Monitoring / SME (Bratislava)
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