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In Romania there are around 71,000 citizens in possession of lethal firearms (IntMin Predoiu)
Internal Affairs minister Catalin Predoiu says there are about 71,000 citizens in Romania who own of lethal firearms, but recent cases involving such weapons are isolated and there is no systemic risk.
"It's far from being a phenomenon. It is obvious that we are dealing with two isolated cases that have nothing in common. (...) The justice system, following police reports and police intervention in the first instance, immediately initiated the necessary proceedings. (...) There is no risk to the system, checks have been made," Predoiu told private broadcaster Digi 24 on Thursday.
Thus answered the minister to a question on the two recent incidents - the case of the former policeman in Bucharest who threatened his neighbour and in whose home three guns were found and the case of the Covasna County Police Inspectorate (IPJ) employee who allegedly fired a shotgun at a man.
"In Romania there are around 71,000 citizens who own lethal firearms of various types - hunting weapons, target shooting, self-defence weapons - and there are around 170,000 such firearms. They are subject to regular checks. All these checks and inspections were carried out on time in 2023, in the case of 99 percent of the owners. (...) They were done on time, they were done systematically, so there is no systemic risk and the case of this policeman is far from being a phenomenon. There is no doubt that whenever such situations arise, procedures must be triggered and the causes that led to this must be studied," Predoiu added.
