There was a surge in gun violence within the EU that would “quickly and drastically” deteriorate the safety state of affairs, claims the primary complete report back to have studied the native black market of firearms and its influence.
In accordance with the EU-funded Mission Goal report, “elevated availability of firearms can quickly and drastically alter the peaceable course” of any EU member state. Whereas specializing in the influence of gun trafficking on gun violence within the EU, the research explores the state of affairs in 34 European international locations: 27 EU member states, the UK, and 6 international locations of the Western Balkans.
Reducing charges of deadly gun violence and low charges of firearm accidents mustn’t present a “false sense of safety,” even within the international locations which can be being thought of as a few of the most secure on this planet, the research authors, Nils Duquet and Dennis Vanden Auweele, warn.
They notice that the speed of deadly gun violence has stopped declining since 2012 and in some international locations, corresponding to Sweden, it has slowly began to remount.
The findings present that the black market is flourishing, with the influence “significantly obvious” within the Netherlands and Sweden, and “to a considerably lesser extent” in Belgium and Denmark. The unlawful gross sales are making firearms extra out there to criminals “in any respect ranges” and function “an necessary contributor to firearm violence,” predominantly felony and terrorist, the researchers say.
The report supplies a number of suggestions. It factors to the need of “publicly accessible, standardized and comparable” information on the firearms being utilized in incidents, in addition to the seizure information. It additionally requires a extra systematic method to the issue, with 81 million firearms believed to be held within the EU in 2017, each legally and illegally.
The research additionally attracts consideration to “new evolutions and applied sciences” that current the danger of “impacting firearm violence impressively within the coming years.” The researchers present 3D printing for instance of such applied sciences, noting that “some circumstances of 3D printing of firearms are related to rightwing extremism.”
The research was ready by the Flemish Peace Institute, a analysis physique throughout the Flemish Parliament. Duquet, the institute’s director, referred to as the report a “first piece of the puzzle” in a struggle in opposition to gun violence and firearms trafficking.
“Whereas progress has been made and worldwide cooperation has elevated throughout the EU, extra is required to strengthen legislation enforcement capacities, improve data sharing, and shut authorized loopholes,” he instructed the media.
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