Factors that are contributing to gun violence and how violence is prevented

The high number of illegal weapons and the failure to prioritise public security from institutions are contributing, according to security field connoisseurs, to have cases of gun violence occur in Kosovo.

In recent days there have been murders in the country, but other incidents with firearms have brought public security to the attention.

On September 1st, two armed groups clashed in a Pristina neighbourhood. Authorities said earlier disagreements between the two armed groups were the cause of this clash, which left one person dead.

Professor of Criminalism at AAB College Fatmir Colak tells Radio Free Europe that measuring among criminal groups and pasting “is a common phenomenon in the modern world”.

Kosovo Centre for Security Studies head Ramadan Ilazi tells REL that there are two factors that are creating vulnerability to violence with small weapons.

The first, according to him, is the presence of a large number of small firearms, which “are easily accessible to people on the black market”. That's what Colak agrees with.

The second “: In recent years public security does not appear to have been a priority because most of the attention and time have been invested in the northern part of Kosovo, apparently”, Ilazi says.

Weapons and other equipment confiscated by Kosovo Police in the north following the attack that took place in Banjska in September last year. Kosovo blames Serbia's state for organising the attack.

From the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MPB), Free Europe told Radio earlier that over 230,000 illegal weapons are estimated to be in the hands of Kosovo citizens.

Although Kosovo police have not provided an overall number of cases of firearms violence, its daily reports have shown that more than 50 cases of firearms have occurred in August alone, while five others during the first three days of September.

Neither MPB nor police have answered REL questions about what concrete steps are taking to prevent cases of gun violence from increasing.

However, the Kosovo Security Strategy 2022-2027 suggests that preserving public and constitutional order is “the vital state interest that will be implemented in the entire territory of state”.

Meanwhile, the police, in their annual 2023 report, have said that they launch campaigns for awareness of security risks and that they organise campaigns against the use of firearms.

The Problem of Illegal Weapons

Both Colak and Ilazi emphasise illegal weapons, which they say are easily found on the Kosovo black market.

Kosovo's “State should do more through preventative activities, different police operations, in the sense of criminal control, which practically means identifying illegal weapons, which would follow their seizures, which would lead to a reduction of the total number of unlicensed weapons, especially in the hands of citizens”, says Colak.

According to data that police sent to the REL, 636 weapons were confiscated from January to July 2024, while in the same period last year.

Colak and Ilazi require the realisation of awareness campaigns, but also the initiative of a campaign that would provide some kind of amnesty for citizens who hand in illegal weapons.

An initiative to hand over firearms had been practiced shortly after the war, but in the years that followed, there had been campaigns for legalizing weapons.

Brussels-based Flaman Institute for Peace researcher Astrid De Schutter, whose work focuses on the issue of gun violence, tells REL that some Balkan states face high rates of murder from violent armed incidents.

The “they still face the presence of weapons from the wars of the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia”, she says.

De Schutter says countries can take a series of steps to prevent gun violence.

The first, according to her, is working legally and even in creating weapons control mechanisms.

In order to implement weapons laws, and investigate and prosecute weapons-related crimes, states must invest in operational capacity”, it stresses.

Kosovo has laws that determine who and under what conditions can be equipped with firearms. Also, laws envision fine sentences and imprisonment for possession of arms without permission.

Ilazi says that in order for institutions to set public security as a priority, they must first admit that gun violence is a problem.

Then, according to him, it would have to continue with further steps, such as increasing seizure operations, police patrols, but also combating illegal arms markets, in co-operation with countries in the region.

Kosovo police have announced last year that they have closed 23 illegal routes for smuggling weapons and goods on the Kosovo-Serbia border, and six other routes to the border with Montenegro, in co-operation with Montenegrin authorities. /rel/