ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) interior ministry on Tuesday asked citizens of the Region to register their firearms after the New Year holidays, as the government in Erbil continues its efforts to control the rise of gun violence. “Registering weapons is the first step in implementing the Weapons Law No.2 of 2022 which sets a one-year period for this process. Anyone who possesses an unregistered weapon after this year, which ends in July 2023, will be treated as an illegal weapon” read the statement from the interior ministry. Citizens will only have the right to bear firearms once they have obtained a license to carry weapons, the statement added. Weapon-related crimes are common in the Kurdistan Region where firearms, including sniper rifles and machine guns, are purchased on the black market. An estimated 70 percent of people in the Kurdistan Region own weapons. In June, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani ordered the shutdown of all firearms selling markets and the confiscation of unlicensed weapons, in light of the killing of two university academics by a former student days prior. Erbil saw 79 murders and 28 shooting incidents in 2021, according to data from the city’s police.
