Too many guns getting in the wrong hands

Two million hunting rifles are at the ready in household cupboards, behind doors and in storerooms around the country. Every time one of them is used to threaten a neighbor over property differences, rivals in love triangles or any person over a petty quarrel, there is a very good chance someone will be shot. In Greece, all one needs in order to buy a rifle is to declare oneself to be a hunter. In other parts of Europe, rules are much stricter. A rifle has as much power as eight revolvers. To buy one in Greece, a person simply fills out a sworn statement that he (or she) is not a criminal, and supplies a doctor’s certificate that he or she is of sound mind. Although the total number of hunting rifles in Greece is estimated at 2 million (both legal and illegally owned), only 300,000 people have declared themselves hunters. Many of them own more than one rifle, but that still leaves many unaccounted for. The question arises as to why the state grants gun licenses to people who have nothing to do with hunting, and why a large percentage of murders in this country are committed with these rifles. «The state is virtually allowing anyone who does not have a legal right to own a revolver to get a gun anyway,» said Yiannis Maris, head of the Review Committee for the law on weapons (2168/93) and legal adviser to the Merchant Marine Ministry on weapons. «That is, it is indirectly perpetuating the concept of armed defense, with everything that entails.» Although in recent years the public order minister has made an effort to make it legally more difficult for people to acquire a hunting rifle (for unknown reasons the draft amendment to the law has remained filed away in the ministry) the procedure followed is still considered faulty. There are those – particularly gun merchants – who express reservations as to whether changing the institutional framework will help limit uncontrolled gun ownership, and fear it might only increase gun smuggling. Instead, they suggest doing what is done in most other European Union member states, where the licensing process depends on the type of gun. «The law needs amending, let’s not fool ourselves,» said Petros Kalakatzakos, one of the leading gun dealers in Greece. «That is why we want a say in the review process, as we know the problems and difficulties.» Although the existing law states that «bearing hunting weapons is banned except in cases where they are used for hunting game or for target practice,» in practice, anyone can obtain a license to buy and own a rifle. All that is needed is a permit from the local police station, a sworn statement that one has not committed any crimes such as murders or robberies, and a certificate from a physician or psychiatrist that he or she is mentally sound. Yet there are many experts who question the reliability of the procedure. Much depends on the honesty of the applicant. As far as the medical certificate is concerned, Maris said that even in cases where the applicant is actually psychologically unsound, he could pass muster as long as he doesn’t «act» that way during the visit to the doctor. In some cases, particularly in rural areas where there are no psychiatrists, some borderline cases could be missed. Recently, a 46-year-old man in a village near Volos, who had a criminal record and medical history of mental illness, shot and killed his 6-year-old son and 76-year-old mother-in-law with his hunting rifle, for which he held a permit. Procedure Within 30 days of buying a rifle, the owner is obliged to obtain a permit from a police station. Otherwise, the police are obliged to seek the person. Apart from submitting the purchase permit that «indicates the legal origin of the hunting rifle,» the procedure also includes finding out if the owner has a criminal record, although this is not done until after the gun license is issued. «Often there is the view that if something bad is to happen, it will happen during the time between buying the gun and issuing the permit. That is why police stations often issue the license first and then check the criminal record later,» Maris said. There are those who are satisfied with the situation as it is; they cite a European Union directive ruling that the purchase of a single-barrel hunting rifle capable of bearing just one cartridge does not require a special license. «The harder guns are to acquire, the more smuggling goes on,» said Kalkatzakos. «That has been shown in practice.» According to the Greek police’s State Security Department, the number of hunting rifle licenses stood at 1,204,502 at the end of 2006. Public Order Ministry officials believe that the actual number of guns in use is over 2 million, not including the 4,500 revolvers bought for personal protection. Maris notes that 300,000 hunting rifles have not been declared to the authorities and that a program of voluntary declaration until last September had not brought about the desired results. There are no clear data on hunting rifles smuggled in from neighboring countries. In addition, between January 2005 and the end of 2006, 1,324 hunting rifles were confiscated, very few in comparison to the some 700,000 illegally owned guns in Greece. Of those confiscated, 400 had been used in acts of violence, that is, murders, robberies, attacks; 600 of them were illegally owned and 78 were used in poaching.