Since August 1, no new permits are granted for hunting with the rifle AR-15 and The Moderate Party has said so far that such weapons will be compulsorily redeemed.
In a debate article in Svensk Jakt, signed by Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (M), Minister for Rural Affairs Peter Kullgren (KD), The Liberals' law policy spokesperson Martin Melin (L), and Henrik Vinge (SD), Chairman of the Justice Committee, one writes:
”Already announced permits will continue to apply, while the individual receives an offer to voluntarily, for a limited time, redeem their weapon on generous terms – compensation of 100 percent of the weapon's market value at the time of purchase and that certain types of firearm accessories will also be redeemable.”
”Betraying promise”
Teresa Carvalho, law policy spokesperson for the Social Democrats, is not impressed and says in a written comment to TT:
”This means that the government is betraying the promise to ban the semi-automatic military-like weapon AR-15 after the mass shooting in Örebro. They have given in to The Sweden Democrats and a small aggressive weapons lobby. It is extremely weak”.
AR-15 is a semi-automatic rifle of military type that came into focus after the mass shooting in Örebro in February. Although the shooter did not use this weapon, the government decided to restrict access.
”Acting preventively”
”The picture also includes that AR-15 in other countries has reached a certain status in a subculture around mass shootings – here we want to act preventively", writes The Moderate Party representatives in Svensk Jakt.
AR-15 permits were granted to hunters for two years, around 7,000 hunters managed to get it during that time. The weapons that are collected will be sent to Ukraine.
