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Mass Shootings Shock the Balkans, Illegal Guns Continue to Thrive

Montenegro grapples with widespread illegal firearms and gun violence, despite government efforts and stricter laws. The country’s strong gun culture, rooted in its history, complicates enforcement. Gun-related incidents continue to rise, impacting both the local population and neighboring regions.

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Mass Shootings Shock the Balkans, Illegal Guns Continue to Thrive

Vesna Pejovic had vowed to reduce gun violence after her daughter and two grandsons were tragically killed in a mass shooting in Cetinje, Montenegro, in 2022. However, the optimism she had left was crushed after a gunman killed 13 people in a shooting on January 1 in Montenegro’s historic capital. The gunman used an illegal firearm before taking his own life.

“We had to relive all our horrors all over again,” Pejovic, 63, said. She has been lobbying for stricter gun control laws for three years but is disheartened by the lack of progress. “We are devastated again as we’ve failed to gain anything, despite striving for it with our hearts and souls,” she added.

In response to the shooting, Montenegro’s Prime Minister Milojko Spajic announced measures to strengthen gun control, including more rigorous licensing requirements and a two-month period for citizens to voluntarily surrender illegal firearms. Such initiatives notwithstanding, the persistent prevalence of illegal firearms across the Western Balkans continues to pose a significant challenge.

“Fighting illegal firearms is a very difficult task, and I think a lot still has to be done,” said Nils Duquet, director of the Flemish Peace Institute. The problem is further complicated by the region’s legacy of millions of firearms left over from the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. While Montenegro has tried to combat this problem through a gun amnesty program, experts say that illegal weapons remain rampant, with as many as 100,000 still in circulation in the country.

The gun amnesty program of Montenegro has been a limited success. Only 1,535 firearms have been surrendered so far, by January 27, after the call for action by Prime Minister Spajic. Serbia and Bosnia have also conducted similar amnesty programs, but experts are skeptical about their effectiveness. “Acquiring a firearm here is akin to buying bread in a shop,” said Pejovic.

The Western Balkans alone is estimated to hold 6 million surplus firearms. The majority of these are with criminals, and according to the Small Arms Survey, only half of these weapons have been collected or destroyed. In the last five years, the region has witnessed gun-related incidents increase by over 70% from 2019 to 2024. Gun crime deaths continue to feature prominently in this group of causalities. The death rate from gun violence in the Western Balkans is over 30% higher than in major EU countries.

The illegal weapons market in the Balkans also poses risks to Europe and beyond. “The firearms produced in the Western Balkans jurisdictions were used in several terrorist attacks in 2015 and 2016 in Europe and continue to be used across the region in various criminal contexts,” said the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

In a bid to solve these problems, the countries of the Western Balkans agreed in November to harmonize their gun laws with the European Union. Bosnia has also increased its efforts to intercept smuggled firearms, and so far, this has been quite effective in the fight against illegal arms trade. Experts, however, warn that smuggling and illicit trade remain rife.

Another big challenge to the country’s gun culture is its long history that dates back centuries of wars and conflict. The country has 39.1 firearms per 100 people, ranking it third in the world in gun ownership per capita. The fondness for arms has been going on since the early 20th century when the Montenegrin king compelled all the male citizens to possess a revolver in case an invader would attack.

Montenegro’s strong gun culture is everywhere: antique firearms displayed in restaurants, a church fence made from musket barrels seized from Turks in the 19th century. “My generation. grew up in homes where weapons were an integral part of the household,” said Velimir Rakocevic, a criminology lecturer in Podgorica. This deep-rooted cultural attachment to weapons contributes to the resistance to stricter gun controls.

In addition, the region’s culture also triggers gun violence. In Kosovo, for instance, the practice of releasing shots in the air usually happens during a wedding celebration. A mural at a police station in Pristina shows the slogan, “Celebrate with heart not with weapons” to reflect the much-needed shift in culture to reduce the increasing gun violence in the region.