Sudden deaths from homemade guns

Heartbreaking incidents

Many days have passed, but relatives of Ha Van Xien (37 years old, resident of Na village, Nam Nhoong commune, Que Phong district) still do not know who fired the gun that caused Xien to be shot and die.

Before that, at around 4pm on December 5th, Mr. Xien was going into the forest to pick vegetables when he was suddenly hit by a flintlock bullet and seriously injured. Mr. Xien only had time to call his family to inform them and then fell unconscious. Mr. Xien was then taken to the hospital for emergency treatment but did not survive due to the bullet penetrating his lung.

Keng Du Border Guard Station's military medics performed first aid on Mr. Uy who used a homemade gun to commit suicide. Photo courtesy

Mr. Ngan Van Chin - Chairman of the People's Committee of Nam Nhoong Commune (Que Phong) commented that most likely when Mr. Xien was picking fruit in the forest, someone hunting mistook him for a wild animal and opened fire.

Just 3 days later, Mr. Vi Van L. (56 years old), residing in Hanh Dich commune (Que Phong) was also shot in the abdomen while going into the forest to set squirrel traps. After being shot, Mr. L. held back the pain and called his relatives to inform them. After first aid at Que Phong District Medical Center, due to the serious wound, which caused a perforated abdomen, the victim was transferred to Nghe An General Hospital for emergency treatment.

Not only in mountainous areas, in Vinh City and the plains, it is not uncommon for many people to use guns and firearms to resolve conflicts. On the night of December 3, 2018, Le Anh Tuan (born in 1986), residing in Vinh City, organized a party at a restaurant in Hung Dung Ward.

During the party, Nguyen Anh Tu and Pham Trung Hieu were two guests who had a personal conflict that led to a fight. Tu immediately pulled out a pistol and threatened to shoot Hieu, but Ho Viet Cong, who was sitting at the same table, rushed in to stop him, grabbed the gun, and fired 5 shots into the ceiling, causing many people present at the restaurant to run away.

After arriving at the coffee shop, the group continued to argue and stabbed each other with scissors. Suddenly, two people with guns fired several shots into the crowd, injuring two onlookers. Vinh City Police later arrested and prosecuted Nguyen Anh Tu (born in 1986) for "Illegal possession and use of military weapons" and Ho Viet Cong (born in 1993) for "Illegal use of military weapons".

Notably, recently there has been a situation of buying and selling components and instructions for assembling weapons, explosives, support tools, especially air guns, on social networks.

Subject Luu Van Thang and the evidence were arrested by Thanh Chuong Police. Photo: QT

In March 2019, Thanh Chuong District Police caught Luu Van Thang (born in 1967), residing in Hamlet 8, Thanh Huong Commune, Thanh Chuong District, red-handed for manufacturing flintlock guns to sell to those in need for illegal profits. During the arrest, the police seized 1 flintlock gun, 1 AK47 military gun and 15 bullets.

Criminal proceedings are required.

Currently, the number of firearms, especially homemade guns, among the people is still very large. A part of the people in border communes, remote areas still use weapons and explosives to hunt wild animals, catch aquatic and seafood, which poses many potential risks to public order and security.

According to the leader of Nghe An Provincial Police, although the number of weapons and explosives handed over by the people and seized by the authorities in recent times is very large. In 2019, the police sector mobilized to recover 516 guns of various types, 13,262 bullets, 9 bombs, mines... contributing to limiting the causes and conditions for crime. However, to completely prevent the act of storing, buying, selling and using homemade guns is still very difficult.

In reality, although homemade guns have very strong destructive power and are included in the list of weapons prohibited for individuals to own and 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 weapons when going into the forest.

Police forces in communes in Con Cuong district mobilized and recovered hundreds of homemade guns from people who voluntarily handed them in. Photo: Tuong Vi.

In addition, in many cases of mutual purges and murders in the province, the subjects used homemade guns. The nature of the above cases shows that the criminal behavior of the subjects is increasingly reckless, thuggish, and aggressive, and the illegal possession and use of weapons is truly alarming. However, there are currently many shortcomings in the criminal handling of the acts of manufacturing, trading, storing, transporting, and illegally using weapons with similar features and effects to military weapons.

At the recent National Assembly session, in the face of increasingly complex crimes involving the use of homemade weapons with similar features and effects to military weapons to commit crimes, Major General Nguyen Huu Cau - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Director of the Provincial Police Department, said that the reality of the fight against crime shows that this is a very serious crime.

Homemade guns have lethality no less than military weapons.

"The types of weapons that criminals often use include shotguns, revolvers, pen guns, homemade guns... which are highly lethal. When committing crimes, these types of crimes often cause particularly serious consequences, infringing on the lives and health of others," Major General Cau said, adding that criminal prosecution of acts of manufacturing, trading, transporting, storing, using, and illegally appropriating weapons with similar functions to military weapons is extremely necessary, demonstrating a consistent criminal policy in Vietnam.