Studies on the Draft law on Guns/Firearms in the Turkish National Assembly Internal Affairs Commission and Subcommittee and in the agenda of the media put forward the question of “is a new law facilitating the individual armament on the way?”
The reason for the progression of the developments in the Draft Law toward the facilitation of armament is based on the rationale of "if it would be easy to acquire licensed guns then it would be easy to record the offenses, no one commits crime with a licensed gun". However the studies show us that there is an increase in the crimes committed with licensed guns. Moreover, what will happen to the unlicensed guns? Of course it will not decrease and the crimes committed with unlicensed guns will continue. The outcome of the law that relies on such rationale will be as follows: Number of the licensed guns will increase. Total number of the guns will increase. Today, there are approximately 8-10 millions of firearms in the service of the individuals in Turkey being 2.5 millions of them licensed and three times of them unlicensed. Together with the present draft law, we can be sure that the number of the firearms available to the individuals and therefore number of the crimes will increase.
Unfortunately, significant majority of the politicians and parliamentarians care about “individual armament” and consider bearing such a dangerous tool that threats the right to live as a right and put it in front of "right to live".
While standing against any kind of approach that liberalizes the acquisition of firearms, we remind once more: Draft law on Guns/Firearms concern our right to live as being citizens. Therefore basic approach should be “individual disarmament” and “securing right to live”.
Suggestions of Umut Foundation regarding Draft Law on Guns/Firearms
As Umut Foundation, we submitted the results of the deep examination we carried out on Draft Law on Guns/Firearms with the contribution of various experts to the authorities and we also broadcast them on our web pages.
Upon the developments informing the emergence of a draft law that will facilitate the individual armament, we are attracting the attention of the public to the following issues:
1. “Gift gun” concept means legalizing individual armament. For this reason, it should be opened to discussions and must be excluded from the scope of the law.
2. No gun or ammunition should be advertised or promoted in the press and broadcasts through “obvious and/or hidden methods; moreover, their introduction, marketing and advertisement should not be made through any media and method.”
3. “Temporary License” provision which gives the right to acquire a gun until obtaining a true license must be excluded from the draft text.
4. Lower age limit for gun license should be 25. Being based on the high extent of the rate of crime in terms of criminology and statistical data on the deaths and wounding by firearms, the lower age limit for gun license should be 25. Rate of suicides by firearms resulted with death is significantly high between the ages of 15-25.Risk continues up to 35.Deaths with firearms reach to the peak point between the ages 25-30.Therefore it is very important to increase the age limit to 25.
(Source: A research: The deaths due to firearm injuries occurred between 2003 and 2007 in Istanbul)
5. Gun licenses to those who were sentenced imprisonment more than 1 year or to those sentenced to supervised liberty should not be given under any circumstances.
6. Health reports asked from the person during licensing must be demanded as “bill of health from commission” in closed opinion method rather than a “doctor report”. Bill of health to be given by the health commission must be sent to the authorized institution in closed and confidential fashion.
7. Recording not only the guns but also the bullets is of great importance. Bullets should not be given at once, but they should be distributed in time according to the needs; number of bullets given in accordance with the current regulation must be decreased, and in case of requesting new bullets, used ones must be returned.
8. No gun can be delivered to anyone for “keeping” purpose. If there is such a requirement, it must be kept by security units.
9. Firearms should not be carried at public entertainment places where alcoholic drinks are consumed such as bars, night clubs, wedding salons, discotheques and taverns or at outdoor ceremonies open to public such as weddings, henna nights, engagements, circumcisions as well as in the traffic.
10. In places open to public such as shopping centers, entertainment places, managers should be able to prevent carrying guns at these areas by their own decisions.
11. Gun licenses including carrying permissions must be valid for 2 years as of the date they are issued.
12. Principals related to validity and renewal of possession licenses must be identical with the ones for “carrying”. Possession licenses must also be subject to two years validity and the conditions of the possessor must continuously be reassessed at regular intervals.
13. Prohibitions for entering a building with gun must be applied for everyone equally. There should not be any exception except for the responsible and assigned ones who are given the task of ensuring security of a place; state of non-carrying guns must be applied to every person equally.
14. Carrying or possession licenses within the frame of principals stated in the regulations for guns with protective aims may be given to those under ‘serious risk of life’, evidenced with concrete findings, from among retired public officers who were entitled carrying guns when on duty, on condition that this should be marked on their IDs.
15. Gun acquisition should not be facilitated for the members of any professional group and/or its retired members.
Furthermore, following issues which are not included in the Draft Law on Firearms and in the related procedures must also be taken into consideration:
License records must be kept in central system and a central database must be created.
With regard to accessing to control information, gun carrying or possession license must have an electronic chip and it should contain Turkish Republic ID number.
Reference system must be put in licensing procedure such as obligatory education prior to licensing or automatic cancellation system after licensing arising from criminal and health as well as spouse, family doctor and lawyer info.
It is also necessary to determine the obligation for arm case and supervisions during licensing; determining waiting time to process the application in licensing as well as limiting the number of arms that can be possessed...
As a RESULT;
We had previously broadcasted the comments of Dr. Ayhan Akcan, Member of Umut Foundation Board, regarding the Subcommittee Meeting he attended: (http://www.umut.org.tr/public/haftaninyorumu.aspx?id=19870)
Mr. Ayhan said "General attitude in the Subcommittee’s meeting was as follows: our proposal taking “bill of health commission” as essential instead of “doctors report” shall be included in the law in detail (article 7/9); temporary license provision for 6 months shall be cancelled (article 7/2); “Firearms should not be carried at public entertainment places where alcoholic drinks are consumed such as bars, night clubs, wedding salons, discotheques and taverns or at outdoor ceremonies open to public such as weddings, henna nights, engagements, circumcisions” statement shall be included in the scope of places where firearms shall not be carried (article 11/5).”
Umut Foundation is the pursuer of Draft Law on Guns/Firearms and especially the issues such as "bill of health commission”, “cancellation of temporary license provision” and “requirement that firearms should not be carried at public entertainment places and at outdoor ceremonies open to public”. Otherwise, results of the individual armament would be desperate and its responsibility would be too heavy to be carried by the ones who set the present draft law.
Have a nice week,
Umut Foundation