Albania launches awareness campaign against illegal weapons

Over 10,000 Albanian citizens have lost their lives or have been seriously wounded by weapons from 1997 up to now, Albanian Minister of Interior Saimir Tahiri said Tuesday, launching an awareness campaign against their use.

Albania's young generation should reject the model of keeping unauthorized guns as they are a constant threat to the citizens and society here, the minister appealed.

Tahiri further said Albanians see the use of weapon as the first choice in spontaneous conflict, what has led to an increasing number of deaths from guns.

The latest awareness campaign was launched in cooperation with partners at the European Union and United Nations.

Although Tahiri acknowledged the objective was challenging, he expressed confidence it would yield results as even in the past, Albania has conducted several campaigns of this kind to collect illegal weapons.

Citizens in Albania got armed in 1997 during the civil disorder that Albania went through following the failure of the pyramid schemes. At that time, the then-government decided to open the weapons depots in the north, for protection against the violence of the south.

At that time, it was estimated that, on average, every male from the age of 10 upwards possessed at least one firearm and ample ammunition. According to official sources, around 656,000 weapons of various types were looted from army depots that year. Endit