According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, around 68,000 citizens are legally armed in Montenegro, owning more than 100,000 weapons, announced the Vice President of the Independent Police Union of Montenegro, Đorđije Vukićević.
“On the other hand, estimates are that citizens have at least 40,000 or even more than 100,000 weapons in illegal possession. This much weaponry among citizens requires a serious analysis and reaction from the competent institutions,” assessed Vukićević.
According to him, weapons owned by loyal citizens are not a threat to anyone in the country, but weapons in illegal possession are.
He also announced the fact that Montenegro ranks third in the world in terms of the number of weapons owned by citizens, which should concern the entire society, especially the competent institutions, because the question arises as to how many weapons are in illegal possession, Montenegrin media reports.
“Respect life, return weapons”
In 2015, Montenegro passed the Law on Weapons, Vukićević reminds, which is in line with EU legislation, and the campaign “Respect life, return weapons” has been running since that year.
Despite the daily seizure of illegal weapons in alarming quantities, those on the other side of the law will, according to Vukićević, get their hands on weapons one way or another, so he emphasizes that it is necessary to toughen the penalties.
“The sentences are extremely low and range from three months to eight years in prison, which are imposed for extreme acts and are rare in Montenegro. But we have also had situations where sentences below the minimum are imposed for this act and where only a warning is issued,” he explains.
Prime Minister Milojko Spajić announced stricter criteria for obtaining weapons, as well as penalties for illegal possession and carrying of weapons.
“We will consider all modules, even the full use of weapons, and that is a possibility. This is a tragedy where we have to ask ourselves who can have weapons, we understand both for sports and hunting, but the criteria must be tightened,” said Spajić, Srna writes.
Photo: archive
