Uruguayans Unwilling to
Lay out Firearms
Montevideo - Only 82 out
of the 500,000 firearms
calculated in irregular
situation were given up
by Uruguayan citizens up
to now, in a response to
a campaign started by
the local army on
November 1st to stop
indiscriminate use of
firearms.
The initiative will be
extended up to July 31,
2009, in the middle of a
strong discussion
between politicians, or
people against the use
of firearms by
individuals, after
several merchants killed
or injured some thieves,
who at the same time,
were carrying guns and
threatened them.
Official Luis Bachini,
Director of the Army
Armament and Material
Service, said that the
Army will give firearms
owners a receipt without
asking any questions on
the origin, use of any
other details on the
weapons.
“The most important
thing for us is the
voluntary delivery of
the weapons,” he stated.
“An irregular weapon is
that owned by someone
who has not registered
it on his name, because
he simply bought it, did
not make any
registration, or
inherited, and never
made any transfer
procedure to his name
with the gun,” he
explained to the press.
It is calculated there
are more than 500,000
registered firearms in
Uruguay, but 500,000
more without any
registration.
This means that in a
population a little bit
over 3.3 million, one
out of each three
citizens owns a fire
gun, as an average.
Most of the registered
guns are revolvers,
rifles, shotguns and
pistols. |
