Demand for unlicensed weapons increases

ESKİŞEHİR

The effort to buy unlicensed guns has increased lately, with foreign nationals and underage citizens making up the majority of these claimants.

Murat Karakaya, a tradesman who sells hunting equipment in the central Anatolian province of Eskişehir, stated that recently there has been an increase in the number of citizens who want to buy unlicensed weapons.

Karakaya mentioned that usually underage people want to buy such unlicensed weapons to emulate shows and video games including violence and that many local tradesmen are strict about not selling guns to these teenagers.

Stressing that they encounter difficulties when they reject these customers, Karakaya said that his shop was once robbed by a 17-year-old young man whom he did not sell an unlicensed weapon to before, and that he suffered damage of about 35,000 Turkish Liras.

Underlining that firearms are very inconvenient for citizens, Karakaya said that sales can only be made as long as the state allows, when the necessary documents are shown.

Karakaya stated that people in search of unlicensed weapons cannot obtain them thanks to the attention of the shopkeepers.

“The search for weapons has increased recently. Especially Afghans, Iranians and Syrians are trying to buy weapons. We also receive such requests from local citizens, but of course we do not sell any unlicensed guns. As shopkeepers, we only accept customers who fulfill the legal obligations,” he added.

Meanwhile, according to the “2022 Armed Violence Map” prepared by the Umut Foundation, which fights against individual armament, a total of 2,278 people were killed and 4,231 were injured in armed violence incidents across the country in the last year, and the most violence occurred in Istanbul, as in previous years.

The Marmara region, which has the largest population density and receives the most immigrants, was the site of the most armed violence, according to the research.

Adana, which was ranked second in the country, grabbed the lead in the Mediterranean region, where 571 armed violence occurrences were reported by the media.