ANTI-GUN EFFORTS YIELD 13,500 GUNS, 2,000 EXPLOSIVES IN 7 DAYS, PRESIDENT VUCIC

Sun 14 May 2023:

In the first week of a month-long disarmament initiative initiated in the aftermath of two tragic mass shootings in early May, Serbian residents willingly surrendered 13,500 firearms and 2,000 explosive devices, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday.

Starting May 8, anyone owning illegal firearms and ammunition can hand over the weapons to the police and face no penalties as part of the campaign, Vucic said earlier. The number of legal weapons owned by Serbian citizens is also expected to be slashed by 90%. There are 765,000 registered hunting shotguns, sports weapons, handguns and revolvers in the country with a population of about 6.5 million, excluding Kosovo, according to the Serbian president.

SERBIA TO LOWER CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY AGE FROM 14 TO 12 AFTER BELGRADE SCHOOL MASSACRE

On Sunday, the Serbian Interior Ministry held an inspection of illegal weapons collected from citizens near the city of Smederevo, including assault rifles, machine guns and sniper rifles.

“We could see about 10,000 guns here in Smederevo today, 11,970 in total are here. As of this morning, about 13,500 weapons had been collected, as well as about 2,000 different explosive devices, which we could not demonstrate for security reasons.

These include 1,750 hand grenades and disposable hand grenade launchers,” Vucis said.

The collected weapons will be taken to a defense enterprise called Zastava in the city of Kragujevac, where it will be used for production, if possible.

BOY14 OPENS FIRE AT SERBIAN SCHOOL, KILLING EIGHT CHILDREN AND A TEACHER

In the night of May 5 to May 6, 21-year old Uros Blazic killed eight people and injured 14 with an automatic gun in the municipality of Mladenovac near Belgrade. He reportedly shot a police officer and his sister, and continued to shoot at random people before he was apprehended by the police.

Two days before that, a seventh-grader opened fire in a Belgrade school, killing eight children and a guard and wounding six children and a teacher. The shooter was arrested, but, since he is not 14 years old yet, he is not liable to criminal proceedings. The boy was placed in a psychiatric ward.

Serbia declared a period of national mourning from May 5-7 for 17 victims of the two shootings.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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