Committee report required for a weapon license

The new Weapon Law which passed through the Assembly’s sub commission has been revised. The requirement of a single doctor’s signature for a weapon’s license has been reconsidered.

The new Weapon’s Law, which resulted in the surfacing of significant debate regarding the ease in which licenses may be obtained, has been accepted by Turkey’s Grand National Assembly Interior Affairs Subcommittee. 

The highly debated item in the draft, which brought police and the military to a head by providing the authority to import heavy weaponry to the National Intelligence Agency and the Police Force has been altered to appease the military. 

Members of the military will be able to obtain weapons licenses by the head command as was the previous practice; however they will have to send a copy of the license to the Ministry of the Interior. 

Police Forces and the National Intelligence Agency will be able to obtain light weaponry from the Ministry of the Interior, however as for heavy weaponry, they will be able to import with the assistance of the Ministry of National Defense. 

The complaint by the military, that should the bill pass on personal weapons licenses and imports, ‘there will be no way to track whether chemical or biological warfare has been brought into the country,’ was taken into account when AKP members also offered support to the military’s stance. In order to obtain a gun license, a single doctor’s approval will not be sufficient and in accordance to the previous application process, a committee report from a hospital will be required.