Montenegro Cracks Down On Firearms After New Year's Massacre

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Last edited Mon Jan 6, 2025, 03:04 AM - Edit history (1)

Relatives mourn during a commemoration service for victims of New Year's Day mass shooting in Cetinje, Montenegro. (Photo: 4 Jan 2025, Reuters).

The Montenegrin government has announced a raft of new gun-control measures, following a mass shooting that killed 12 people, including two children.

The proposed law will mandate the reverification of existing weapons licenses and impose severe penalties for those who fail to surrender illegal weapons within a two-month period. Hunting clubs would be verified and the authorities would establish an anonymous tip line where citizens can report illegal weapons possession for a reward.



Montenegro has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in Europe. In the country of just over 620,000 people, there are about 245,000 firearms in use. Other estimates suggest the figure is lower. According to 2022 police data provided to RFE/RL's Balkan Service, there are over 100,000 legally owned weapons in Montenegro, while illegal firearms are estimated to number between 40,000 and 80,000.



This will not be an easy task for Montenegro which ranks fifth in Europe for organized criminality.

Cetinje, the site of the massacre, had only a minimal police presence despite being home to 120 known organized crime members and having experienced a similar massacre in August 2022, when an attacker killed ten people and wounded six before being killed by a passerby.


With one police officer per 141 inhabitants, Montenegro has the second highest number of police officers per capita in Europe, after Monaco.

Source:

https://www.rferl.org/a/montenegro-new-gun-control-measures-cetinje-shooting-response/33263200.html