Need to prevent threats from homemade guns

(Baonghean) - In recent years, the situation of people buying, selling, storing, and using homemade guns has become complicated, disrupting security and order, and causing bad public opinion in society.

Deadly danger

On October 29, 2016, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ty (born in 1963, resident of Hamlet 9, Dien Thai Commune, Dien Chau District) was attending a funeral in the hamlet when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her shoulder and then fainted. People present saw Ms. Ty collapse, then discovered blood flowing from her shoulder, so they performed first aid and took the victim to Dien Chau District Hospital. Ms. Ty was then operated on at Nghe An General Hospital, where doctors removed a bullet from her body.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Ty, before being shot, she saw two young men on a motorbike carrying guns (like bird guns) on the road, but the reason she was shot is still unclear.

Quy Hop district police recovered homemade guns. Photo: Thu Huong

Before that, another heartbreaking incident also related to a homemade gun caused the death of Quang Bao Khang, a resident of Muong Noc commune, Que Phong district. The cause was that Khang and his friends went into a house in the village to play. Seeing a homemade flintlock gun propped up in the corner of the house, Khang took it out for his friends to play with. When he handed the gun to his friend, unfortunately the gun went off, the bullet hit Khang in the chest, causing his death.

Recently, in the province, there have been many cases of intentional murder and injury involving homemade guns, causing disorder and causing bad public opinion in society. For example, on August 26, 2016, at Thanh Ha coffee shop (Hamlet 5, Hung Chau commune, Hung Nguyen district) at around 8:00 p.m., Mr. Tran Van H. went to the shop to hang out and met Hoang Xuan H. (35 years old, residing in Hung Thinh commune, Hung Nguyen district).

The two sides had a conflict, Hoang Xuan H. immediately called Mr. H. out to talk. As soon as he left the restaurant, Mr. H. was attacked by a group of people and shot repeatedly with a homemade gun, but the bullets did not go off. Mr. H. panicked and ran away, but the group continued to chase and beat him, shooting him in the head, causing him to collapse on the spot. After committing the crime, the thugs got into a car and left the scene, terrifying the witnesses.

Despite the unpredictable dangers, the management of homemade guns is still facing many difficulties. In addition to buying, selling, exchanging, and storing for use, now more dangerously, some people also manufacture guns for illegal profit. The production of homemade guns is even popular on the Internet.

In April 2016, the police of Quy Hop district arrested Lang Van Thanh (born in 1993) and Lang Van Hieu (born in 1987), both residing in Yen Luom village, Chau Quang commune, Quy Hop district, to investigate the act of manufacturing guns. Previously, on the afternoon of April 10, Thanh and Hieu were caught red-handed by the police of the district while illegally using homemade guns, so their residences were searched. The police seized 11 homemade alcohol guns, some tools and materials used to make guns.

Strengthen control and strict handling

Nghi Loc district residents voluntarily surrendered their guns to the police. Photo: Nhat Tuan

In reality, although homemade guns have very strong destructive power and are included in the list of weapons prohibited for individuals to own or possess, many people, especially in mountainous areas, remote areas, and ethnic minority areas, still secretly store and use these weapons to hunt birds and animals and consider them as self-defense when going into the forest.

In addition to the homemade guns of the ethnic minorities, there have also appeared new types of homemade guns such as pen guns, pellet guns, and alcohol guns. The reason these types of guns appeared is because the manufacturing technology is very simple. The materials are cheap and easy to find, so the subjects made them to hunt birds and animals, some subjects used them to commit crimes, commit crimes, and resist law enforcement officers. In many cases of purges and murders in the province, the subjects used guns.

The nature of the above cases shows us that the criminal behavior of the subjects is increasingly reckless, thuggish, aggressive and the illegal possession and use of weapons is truly alarming. Our management work is currently revealing many shortcomings when it fails to strictly control the number of "hot" weapons that exist latently in the community.

Faced with the above situation, the police, border guards and other forces have stepped up propaganda, mobilizing people to hand over and sign a commitment not to manufacture, store or use homemade guns, and at the same time launched peak campaigns to collect this type of weapon. Thanks to that, people's awareness of the harmful effects and the use of homemade guns is a violation of the law has had many positive changes, many people have voluntarily handed them over to the authorities. For example, in 2015 and 2016, the Ky Son District Police mobilized people to hand over 3,100 flintlock guns, homemade hunting guns, 240 gun barrels of various types and 85 kg of mustache bullets.

Recently, the Provincial People's Committee issued Plan No. 716/KH-UBND on launching a peak period of inspection and mobilization to collect illegal weapons, explosives and supporting tools before, during and after the Lunar New Year of Dinh Dau in 2017. The purpose of this peak period of inspection is to raise awareness, responsibility and mobilize the strength of the entire political system and the entire population to participate in preventing, detecting, fighting, stopping and strictly handling acts of trading, transporting and storing illegal weapons, explosives and supporting tools, contributing to ensuring security and order in the area.

Que Phong district police destroy illegal weapons. Photo: Thuy Hang

In addition, through a general inspection and review of entities permitted to equip weapons and support tools, facilities and enterprises producing, supplying and using industrial explosives to promptly detect, correct and overcome loopholes and shortcomings.

In the coming time, to limit and eventually end the use of homemade guns, the authorities need to strengthen and control to prevent and promptly stop the smuggling from abroad into the country through the border and sea. In addition, strengthen propaganda and mobilize people to voluntarily hand over weapons and support tools that are still illegally circulating in the community.

Those who do not comply and use guns, causing consequences to the health and lives of people as well as security and order, must be strictly handled. In particular, the Public Security sector needs to coordinate with the People's Procuracy and the People's Court at the same level to organize many mobile trials to deter, educate and prevent in general. Only then will the use of homemade guns decrease, contributing to ensuring security and order in the province./.

Pham Bang