Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1258433
to the way in which the terrorist acquired the weapon. As a person with no network among the crimi- nals, Breivik was unable to procure the gun illegally. He also attempted to get a gun in Prague. His manifes- to suggests, however, that this has just been a disappointment. He had a stereotypical opinion of Eastern Europe - the mafia-ruled area where it would be relatively easy for a rich Norwegian to procure an AK. Thus, he decided to acquire a gun license legally. Using his hunter's gun per - mit he procured a Ruger Mini-14, and he used his sporting gun-permit to get a Glock 34. He also owned a pump-action shotgun that has not been used during the act of terror. The legal way to acquire guns is more frequent in the US. Nidal Hassan who was guilty of the Fort Hood terror - ist mass shooting in 2009 bought his Five-seveN at a local shop, asking the shop staff to recommend him a gun with a high magazine capacity. As in the case of Breivik, the Police had no reason to reject the gun permit re- quest, as they had no data on the in- tentions of the terrorist. Meanwhile, the salesperson also had no grounds to believe that a military medic would be willing to carry out an act of ter- ror. Meanwhile, a few years later another shooting, at the very same base, was stopped thanks to the fact that a salesman, at the very same gun shop where Hassan bought his gun, remained alert. Most often, however, the terror- ists procure weapons illegally. The first reason as to why that happens seems to be obvious. The purchase of a gun usually involves some form of a contract with the Police or other state body, which turns the attention of those entities to the buyer. At the same time, as shown by the example set by the terrorists, when they con - duct the attack they have a criminal record already, or they have at least been monitored by the Police (being listed on the list of suspects, being monitored for some time, and so on). Persons as such usually do not stand a chance to procure guns legally. Then, there is the illegal way left - the black market, for instance. Mohamed Merah used this method to procure armament. In 2012 he conducted a series of attacks in Toulouse, with 7 dead, and 5 wounded (French soldiers and students at the Jewish school). Merah used a Colt 1911A1 (or its clone) along with a Micro-Uzi. He also had two other .45-cal. guns at his disposal - war-era Remington and Colt Python revolver; Llama Max II, Franchi SPAS 12 shotgun, and Sten Mk II. At least one of the M1911A1s was stolen from a sporting shoot - er from Toulouse a year before the tragic events unfolded, along with other guns, during a carefully planned robbery. Meanwhile, the terrorist who was guilty of the 2015 attack in Copenhagen used the C7 assault rifle stolen from a house of Hjemmevær- net soldier, along with two guns, in- cluding one described as a „Polish 9 mm handgun manufactured before the war" - was it a VIS? I did not manage to find a 100% confirmation here. Gun thefts are quite common too. Sometimes the stolen guns get into the terrorist hands. However, the weapons are usually sourced from state organs, not the private us - ers. For instance, back in 2013, the Belgian Police discovered that 67 decommissioned and withdrawn re- volvers and guns disappeared from storage. Instead of being destroyed, they have been sold on the Black Market. More primitive methods have also been used. Back in 2017, a terrorist attacked a female soldier at the Orly airport, trying to get her FA-MAS rifle. The attack turned into a brief hostage situation, and the at - tacker was then shot. www.fragoutmag.com