70 percent of people in Kurdistan Region own weapons, says official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — As gun violence continues to take the lives of people across the Kurdistan Region, officials have revealed that a staggering 70 percent of people in the Region own weapons. 

“According to our research, 70 percent of Kurdistan Region residents have weapons,” Tavga Omer, the general director of legal affairs for the Kurdistan Region's human rights commission told Rudaw’s Ranj Sangaw on Monday. “The existence of a law alone doesn’t really solve the issue.”

According to Article 6 of the 1993 weapons ownership law, persons over 18 who are permanent residents of the Kurdistan Region, and have no criminal record or mental illness can carry a weapon.

“The use of guns in the Kurdistan Region is a dangerous one, not only in the Kurdistan Region but in all of Iraq,” said Jabbar Yawar, the secretary-general of Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs, saying the use and sales of weapons is not controlled in either Iraq or the Kurdistan Region.

An official from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Interior criticized the law and said it is not being implemented.

“There are some gaps in the law, the reason why it is not implemented as it is,” said Sami Jalal.

“For example, there are so many exceptions. If you look at the exceptions, that is half of Kurdish society.”  

The KRG has struggled to bring gun ownership under control and decrease the number of privately-owned weapons. The Kurdistan Region is home to multiple black markets where different firearms can be bought, including sniper rifles and machine guns.

According to Jalal, a committee was formed earlier this month to draft a new law on weapon ownership in the Kurdistan Region. 

2020 saw an increase in reported gun violence across the Kurdistan Region, a Sulaimani police spokesperson told Rudaw English in November.  However, the numbers in 2021 appear to be much higher.

Gun-related deaths in the Kurdistan Region have “increased 50 percent compared to last year,” said Shakhawan Rauf Bag, the head of the Kurdistan parliament’s Peshmerga, Interior, Security, and Local Councils Committee. Twelve people have been killed since April 1, while a total of 25 were killed over the course of last year. 

Gun ownership is very common across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. On Saturday, a woman was shot dead after men fired at her parent’s house in Sheikhan, Nineveh province amid a land dispute.

There is also a culture of using weapons during celebrations. Newroz celebratory gunfire in March killed 15-year-old refugee Ayjan Abdulmalik in Duhok.

Besides celebrations and communal issues, weapons are again widely used in honor killings. Zahra Jassim, 21, was shot dead by her spouse, who was armed with an AK-47 at her parents’ house earlier this month.

“I was Peshmerga, and you know salaries kept being delayed, so I started selling weapons,” Rebwar Ismail, a seller in Erbil’s gun market told Bahroz Faraidoon on Monday evening. 

“The person has to be from the military otherwise they can’t buy here. If we know the person is a civilian and will do something bad with the gun, we will notify the Asayish,” said Ismail.