On November 15, 2016, Minister of Interior Affairs Saimir Tahiri launched his initiative “Mos gjuaj, por duaj!” (“Don’t shoot but love!”). As Exit reported back then, this initiative to encourage citizens to hand in illegal firearms and ammunition without being arrested was itself without any legal foundation.
Only on December 7 did the government approve a draft law to actually implement an amnesty regulation until April 30, 2017, which changed its name to “Shqipëria pa arme” (“Albania without weapons”).
Since more than a week, Minister Tahiri has been traveling all through Albania from village to village to promote his initiative and even collect unlicensed weapons, all of this without any proper procedures in place. In other words, all weapons Minister Tahiri gathered during his promo campaign last week and before were accepted without any safety precautions or registration, putting both the minister, police officers, and the onlookers of these events at risk. The videos posted by Minister Tahiri on his Facebook simply show citizens putting their guns on a table in front of him.
The actual Decision of the Council of Ministers, which determines the proper procedure for the acceptance and processing of unlicensed arms and ammunition has only been passed by the Council of Ministers on February 8, and will not be effective until publication in the Fletorja Zyrtare, where it still hasn’t appeared.
The Decision on the “Specification of the procedures of voluntary handing in of firearms of any type and their treatment by the structures of the State Police” lays out the entire procedure, from the moment the firearm is handed in, including the registration of the former owner, the drafting of a record, and the different responsibilities of the Ministry of Interior Affairs and Ministry of Defense in finally disposing of the illegal weapons.
Until now, Minister Tahiri’s private publicity tour has followed none of these procedures, and it is unclear where the weapons that were handed in by citizens around Albania have ended up.
Recently, Minister Tahiri has publicly scolded private security firms and banks for creating the unsafe situations that lead to armed robberies. But the actions of the minister himself also show a complete disregard for the safety conditions of his own police officers and an ignorance of the rule of law.
