Minister of Internal Affairs of Montenegro, Rasko Konjevic, said at the official presentation of the start of the campaign that he expects the campaign to give full support to the Weapons Act, according to Anadolija news agency.
“The first goal is to raise awareness of citizens about how bad it is to own a gun, especially in the unlawful possession. The state’s response to the possession of such weapons will be very rigorous. This is why we changed the Arms Act. We see that almost two-thirds of suicide cases are the consequence of the use of firearms. I urge all social actors to support us in affirmation of positive values, and that is to only legally own a weapon. When our license for a weapon expires, we have to get a new one”, said Konjevic .
He stressed the state authorities will not penalize citizens who give illegal weapons to the police.
“The people who cooperate with state authorities, who have illegal weapons, or legal ones they want to return, will be able to do it without any sanctions until March 2017… it is both the offered hand of the state and certainly the message that all those who do not respect the law in this field will surely be prosecuted”, said Konjevic.
The “Respect life, return the weapons” campaign was supported by the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro.
“Small arms are easily transferred across borders, which is why the problem of the increasing number of small arms can be regional. This project is aimed at collecting such weapons. The program envisages that the campaign takes place in four different countries in the region. The objectives of these campaigns are manifold”, said the Head of EU Delegation to Montenegro, Mitja Drobnič.
He stressed the EU supported the campaign to collect weapons in Bosnia and Herzegovina and that last year, about 11 thousand pieces of small arms and light weapons were collected.
“The EU has this year supported a three-month campaign in Serbia, during which some 7,500 pieces of small arms and light weapons were handed over and legalized, alongside collection of over 1,000 bombs and nearly 160 thousand rounds of ammunition”, said Drobnič.
The campaign “Respect life, return the weapons” in Montenegro is being implemented by the Ministry of Interior in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE), the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and the NGO Center for Democratic Transition (CDT ).
