After the Bow and Arrow attack that happened in the Norweigan city of Kongsberg. On 15th October, Espen Andersen Brathen has been seized and will appear in court.
HITC interrogates the firearms rules, laws, and regulations in Norway and describes the rights of citizens and police officers carrying a weapon inside the country.
Oeyvind Aas who is a police chief told reporters that the culprit used bow and arrow for most of the attacks. And police are searching whether other guns had been also used.
Are weapons banned in Norway?
Citizens are allowed to keep weapons with them. They used firearms for sports shooting and for hunting. However, the storage of weapons is balanced by the state through harsh firearm control laws.
Perhaps it is possible to acquire authority to own a firearm by having officially registered with the local police to use the gun. Also, individuals have to take considerable training to use the gun.
The interesting fact is that Norway is among those top ten countries of the world that possesses the highest guns owned per capita. The country is in tenth place with approximately 31 guns per 100 residents.
New Law for Semi-Automatic firearms
A new regulation was introduced for semi-automatic firearms when right-wing extremist Anders Breivik led 69 people dead in a mass shooting in 2011.
Coming this year, Norway decided to prohibit all semi-automatic weapons from the Scandinavian. The real owners of the firearms would be required by law to hand over the weapons to the government of Norway. In the future, the sales of specific firearms would also be banned.
It is evaluated that after this change in law, it will affect 2,000 firearms owners in the country. Although, there will be a lot of exemptions which comprise hunting and sports shooting.
Unarmed Police Officers ordered to carry firearms
After the bow and arrow attack that happened in Norweigan city of Kongsberg, unarmed police officers were ordered to carry firearms as a safety measure or for their safety purpose.
Generally, law enforcement officers of Norwegian are unarmed but have the authority to rifles and weapons in a specific situation. Although they are not allowed to shoot anything unless police officers receive permission from their senior officials.
Police Directorate in a statement said, “This is an extra safety and precautions. The police officers have no hint so far that there is going to be a change in the national threat level.