Lawyers call for harsher penalties over stray bullet incidents

ISTANBUL

Lawyers have expressed the need to impose harsher judicial penalties for incidents involving stray bullets resulting in fatalities or injuries, citing the increasing number of such cases.

 Celebrations such as weddings and military send-offs sometimes witness “celebratory gunfire,” leading to dozens of individuals becoming unintended targets of these stray bullets each year in Türkiye.

The most recent tragedy occurred in the southwestern province of Aydın, where a bullet fired from a wedding convoy killed 11-month-old Pera, who was playing at home with her mother.

Speaking to daily Milliyet, Professor Ali Kemal Yıldız from the Law Faculty of Turkish-German University highlighted two critical legal issues surrounding stray bullet cases.

 Firstly, the shooter often remains unidentified, resulting in no prosecution or punishment, according to Yıldız.

Secondly, even when the perpetrator is identified, the courts tend to impose minimal sentences, under the belief that the bullets fired for celebratory purposes were not intended to cause harm.

"However, we advocate that individuals who cause death by firing into the air in a crowded environment should be prosecuted for 'reckless homicide with conditional intent,'" he stated.

In the Turkish legal system, conditional intent applies to actions where, despite the absence of direct intent, the perpetrator foresees the potential harmful outcome of their actions and proceeds without taking preventive measures.

Timur Demirbaş, a senior executive from an NGO opposing individual armament, emphasized that those who cause death by firing into the air under the guise of celebrations should face up to 25 years in prison.

"The practice of celebratory gunfire must be outlawed, and the widespread prevalence of unlicensed firearms and pump-action shotguns must be addressed. Thousands fall victim to crimes committed with firearms each year. Effective punitive measures are imperative," he asserted.