Montenegro: Government announces campaign against illegal weapons

The authorities of Montenegro announced measures on Friday to limit the number of illegal weapons after the killing in Cetinje which left 12 dead on January 1, marking the second tragedy of this type in less than three years.

“The availability of weapons” (in the country) “is excessive and horrible, and it cannot be justified by tradition,” Prime Minister Milojko Spajic said at a press conference after a session of the National Security Council.

According to the Swiss NGO Small Arms Survey (SAS), some 245,000 firearms are in circulation in Montenegro, a country of just over 620,000 inhabitants. The 45-year-old shooter from Cetinje, who committed suicide, had previously had illegal weapons in his possession, some of which were seized in 2022.

“Stricter safety and health checks”

Milojko Spajic gave owners of illegal weapons two months to hand them over to the authorities, under penalty of prosecution. Legal weapons permits will also be re-examined, added the head of government.

“We will adopt a new law and permit holders will have until January 2026 to undergo stricter safety and health checks,” he announced.

Friday marked the second of three days of national mourning declared in the country. In Cetinje, seven of the 12 victims were buried.

“A heavy burden for our small country”

Doctors are still struggling to save the lives of the injured. Three are in stable condition and another in critical condition, the Clinical Center of Montenegro said on Friday.

“The Cetinje tragedy is a heavy burden for our small country,” Milojko Spajic said of the killings, whose youngest victims were born in 2016 and 2011. But it was not the first.

In 2022, a man killed ten residents of the same town, including two children, in broad daylight before being shot.

Strongholds of organized criminal groups

The region and its surroundings are strongholds of organized criminal groups, and clashes regularly break out between mafia clans.

In June, two people were killed and three injured in an explosion. They were members of a criminal group, according to the police.

At the end of September, another member of a mafia clan was killed, still in Cetinje, shot dead in his garden by a sniper shooter.

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