Firearm News
Sweden Allows Only Responsible People to Have a Gun Licence
8 August 2016
Vox (USA)
Twenty years ago, I headed to Sweden for a sabbatical year to study the country's attitudes toward hunting. As a responsible hunter, I brought my own guns — an old 12-gauge shotgun and a Remington .30-06 — because I didn't want to miss a shot or wound an animal using unfamiliar, borrowed firearms.
As a sociologist I thought that bringing my own firearms would give me some firsthand experience with European gun laws. That happened sooner than I expected.
My... (GunPolicy.org)
United States,Sweden,United Kingdom,Australia,Japan,Switzerland,Israel,South Africa
Americans Face Extreme Difficulty Exporting Their Guns
27 April 2016
Wall Street Journal, Blog
When American Tom Heberlein tried to import his firearms to Sweden, he got as far as his transfer in the U.K. before it started to become complicated. There, despite having the correct paperwork, a U.K. customs official said: "You can't have these guns."
And thus began Mr. Heberlein's global gun education.
Although Mr. Heberlein did, after a lot of negotiation, finally get his guns through U.K. customs and in to Sweden, the entire experience created a hassle he hadn't... (GunPolicy.org)
Millions of Weapons in Sweden - Most in the North
25 August 2015
Sveriges Radio AB
[Editor's note: Translated by GunPolicy.org from Swedish into English]
[Translated summary: Sweden's 9.7 million inhabitants have barely two million licensed weapons. The National police and SCB's new statistics for the first half of this year have been released. The number of weapons has been divided among the country's seven new police regions and the vast majority of weapons are hunting weapons. There are licences for 900,000 rifles and 640,000 shotguns in the... (GunPolicy.org)
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)
Swedish Gun Amnesty Sees 15,000 Firearms Surrendered
30 December 2014
Local (Sweden)
Thirty-six tonnes of ammunition and over 15,000 weapons were given up in the first nationwide weapons amnesty for seven years.
Sweden's National Police Board carried out the three-month drive early last year, but officers only released the final results on Tuesday.
Sweden has only had two other amnesties, the most recent in 2007 - when 13,000 firearms were handed over by the public together with 14 tonnes of ammunition - and in 1993, when there were 17,000 firearms... (GunPolicy.org)
Teachers in Sweden Get Training to Handle School Shootings
9 June 2014
Local (Sweden)
Swedish school teachers will soon be required to learn about school shootings, the National Agency for Education announced on Monday.
Following fatal school shootings in Germany, Finland, and the US, the Swedish National Education Agency (Skolverket) has decided to educate all school personnel about violence and weapons at work.
"It's critical that the faculty have thought through this and are prepared," Annika Hjelm, director of education at the agency, told... (GunPolicy.org)
Man Dies After Twentieth Shooting in Swedish City During 2014
18 May 2014
Local (Sweden)
A man was shot dead in the Backa area of Gothenburg in western Sweden on Saturday evening with a further man sustaining gunshot wounds, the 20th incident of its kind in the city so far this year.
Both men, who are 25-years-old, are previously known to police.
"Several spent shells have been found and the crime scene had been cordoned off for a technical forensic investigation," said Ulf Lörstad at Västra Götaland police.
The police have opened a preliminary... (GunPolicy.org)
Almost One Third of 2013 Swedish Homicides Involved Guns
31 March 2014
Local (Sweden)
Last year testified to an upswing in deadly violence, new crime statistics revealed on Monday, as 87 people lost their lives to violence in Sweden, compared to 68 the year before. Almost one in three was shot.
Statistics collated by the National Crime Prevention Council (Brå) showed that 2013 was more violent than 2012, but over the longer term, fatal violence has gone down in Sweden. The statistics also included manslaughter.
"The number of cases of deadly violence... (GunPolicy.org)
French Alps Killing Suspect Had 40 Guns, Suspected of Trafficking
20 February 2014
Herald (Scotland)
A former police officer arrested in connection with the killing of a British engineer and his family in the French Alps is suspected of arms trafficking, investigators have said.
Saad al-Hilli and wife Ikbal, from Claygate, Surrey, and her mother Suhaila al-Allaf, who lived in Sweden, were all shot dead on a remote forest road in Chevaline, near Annecy, on September 5, 2012. Local cyclist Sylvain Mollier was also murdered.
French police arrested a 48-year-old,... (GunPolicy.org)
Germany,Moldova,Austria,Bosnia & Herzegovina,Sweden,Canada,Switzerland
Experts Help Moldova Authorities Curb Gun Theft, Smuggling [DE]
17 February 2014
Österreich Journal
[Translated summary: Austria has sent experts to Moldova to advise on small arms and ammunition storage and management under the OSCE framework. Sweden, Canada, Germany and Switzerland will participate in the programme by 2017, which aims to prevent smuggling of stolen ammunition.]
WIEN (bmlvs) - Insgesamt zehn Experten des Bundesheeres unterstützen ab dem 05.03. die OSZE-Mission in der Republik Moldau. Dort werden vorerst vier Angehörige der Heereslogistikschule und... (GunPolicy.org)
Elderly Swede Kept 557 Licensed Guns at Home, Cops 'Stunned'
5 February 2014
Local (Sweden)
Police have called upon the military for help and are scratching their heads as to how and why a man in southern Sweden managed to amass an arsenal of hundreds of weapons, 557 of which he had a licence to own.
Police were notified on Thursday that a 70-year-old man had weapons stashed in his home in Värnamo, south of Jönköping. When they arrived the next day, they were stunned to find hundreds of weapons and weapon parts, including grenades, guns, and ammunition.
... (GunPolicy.org)
Swedish Police Nab Balkan Gun Shipment
17 January 2014
Local (Sweden)
Prosecutors are set to charge four people with ties to the illegal import of weapons, believed to hail from the Balkans, following a raid on a delivery van in Gothenburg carried out earlier in the week.
Prosecutor Thomas Eliasson told Sveriges Radio (SR) on Friday that the weapons probably come from the Balkans and their intended recipients were likely members of organized crime gangs in the western port city of Gothenburg.
"Because they've been smuggled here you can... (GunPolicy.org)
Swedish Man Held Over Xmas Fatal Shooting of Father
27 December 2013
Local (Sweden)
Police in southern Sweden have arrested a 26-year-old man in connection with the Christmas Eve shooting in Lund, and it has emerged the victim is the suspected gunman's father.
The fatal shots were fired late on Christmas Eve when a 57-year-old man was found wounded outside a student residence in the city. He was rushed to hospital but succumbed to his injuries.
A man was arrested close to the crime scene shortly afterwards. He was questioned on Boxing Day on grounds... (GunPolicy.org)
Swedish Security Guard Shot in Holiday Shopping Rush
23 December 2013
Local (Sweden)
Swedish police have detained three men suspected of robbery that left a security guard with a bullet wound to the stomach.
"It was a robbery against a valuable goods truck outside Citygross in the Kungens Kurva neighbourhood," Stockholm police spokesman Sven-Erik Olsson told the TT news agency. The robbery took place around noon in the busy shopping district south of Stockholm, which among other thing houses the world's largest Ikea and the Heron City entertainment... (GunPolicy.org)
Gang Shooting Shocks Swedish Christmas Shoppers
15 December 2013
Local (Sweden)
A man was gunned down in central Örebro in eastern Sweden on Saturday in full view of shoppers out in the middle of the Christmas rush, with police reporting a gangland connection.
The man, who is reported to be in his twenties, was shot in the torso on Drottninggatan in Örebro's main shopping area on Saturday afternoon, according to a report in the local Nerikes Allehanda daily.
According to the police the man is connected to a gang known as Romanos and it is... (GunPolicy.org)
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)
Swedish Man Shot Dead Near Neighbourhood Bike Path
22 October 2013
Local (Sweden)
A 27-year-old man was shot and killed in a residential area in Falkenberg, about 100 kilometres south of Gothenbuerg in southwestern Sweden, late Monday night.
Police received reports of gunfire around 11.30pm and arrived to the Falkagård neighbourhood to find a man with gunshot wounds lying by the side of a bike path adjacent to Solhagavägen.
"Several shots were fired in this neighbourhood," Halland County police spokesman Lars Grimbeck told the Aftonbladet... (GunPolicy.org)
Four Men Shot in Swedish Suburb, Suspected Gang Link
21 October 2013
Local (Sweden)
Four young men were shot at a sausage stand in the northwest Stockholm suburb of Tensta on Sunday night with ambulances being so slow to respond that some victims were taken to hospital by car.
Two of the victims were born in 1990, one in 1991, while the fourth was born in 1996.
"One of them is in critical condition, while the others have less serious injuries," police spokesman Lars Byström told the TT news agency.
The gunfire erupted near a sausage stand in... (GunPolicy.org)
United Kingdom,Sweden,Germany,United States,Australia
US Man Charged Over Internet Gun Sales to Australians
18 October 2013
Australian (Sydney) / AAP
A Kentucky man accused of selling an assault rifle and a 9mm pistol to buyers in Australia via an encrypted "deep web" website has been indicted by a grand jury in the US.
Adam Joseph Bunger, 33, will be arraigned on October 30 in the District Court in Bowling Green, Kentucky, after the jury was presented with evidence collected by Australian Federal Police and US authorities.
Bunger is accused of using the German-based website Black Market Reloaded to find buyers in... (GunPolicy.org)
Australia,United States,Sweden,England & Wales,Germany
US Man Charged With Shipping Guns Internationally, Including Australia
12 September 2013
Courier-Journal (Kentucky) / Associated Press
In a secretive corner of the Internet, buyers and sellers can meet up in a marketplace where virtually anything is available.
That's where federal investigators say that 33-year-old Adam Joseph Bunger used various aliases to sell weapons to buyers overseas — including to people in countries with strict firearm purchasing and ownership laws.
Bunger is charged in federal court in Kentucky with shipping a firearm in foreign commerce, delivering a firearm to an... (GunPolicy.org)