Nine people were shot dead Wednesday morning when a seventh grader with two handguns opened fire in a school in Belgrade, Serbia, despite the nation’s stringent gun controls.
The New York Times reported that “eight children and a security guard” were killed in the attack.
The attack occurred around 8:40 a.m., and the attacker had two pistols and four Molotov cocktails. Belgrade police chief Veselin Miljic indicated the seventh grader had “planned the execution of this criminal offense for a long period of time.”
Serbia has very stringent gun control laws, including many controls which Democrats in the U.S. push as ways of keeping America safe. These include universal background checks, licensing requirements for gun owners, and a requirement that would-be gun owners provide an adequate reason for wanting to own a gun before being allowed to do so.
The University of Sydney’s gun policy research body labels Serbia’s gun controls as “restrictive,” noting that they also include limitations on the type and amount of ammunition licensed gun owners may acquire. “Licensed firearm owners in Serbia are permitted to possess only ammunition suitable for the licensed firearm, and is limited to 60 packages of ammunition per calendar year.”
Moreover, firearm owners must renew their license to own a gun every five years, which requires a background check that includes a search of criminal and mental records and other information. Each gun must be registered and “retained in an official register,” and gun owners must follow “written specifications for the lawful safe storage of private firearms and ammunition by licensed gun owners.”
Despite these stringent controls, Breitbart News noted at least nine people were killed Wednesday during a school shooting in Belgrade.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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