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CRIME

Denmark government grants gun amnesty in bid to reduce firearms

Danes in possession of illegal firearms have been given the opportunity to hand them in to authorities without risking prosecution in a special amnesty introduced by the Ministry of Justice.

Published: 30 May 2017 09:00 CEST
Denmark government grants gun amnesty in bid to reduce firearms
Justice Minister Søren Pape Poulsen. Photo: Ida Guldbæk Arentsen/Scanpix

Weapons can be given up to police freely between June 1st and June 30th, the ministry announced via a press release Monday.

The amnesty was put in place by justice minister Søren Pape Poulsen in collaboration with the public prosecution and police, the ministry said.

Poulsen, who took over as minister for justice following the formation of Denmark’s coalition government in November 2016, announced a new set of measures against biker gang activity, which is closely related to much of Denmark's organised crime, in March this year.

The aim of the June amnesty is to reduce the number of weapons such as guns, knives, and hand grenades in circulation, said the ministry.

Weapons, as well as ammunition and explosive material, can be handed in anonymously during the amnesty period without any charges being brought for acquiring or possessing them.

The minimum sentence for possession of weapons or explosives has been increased from one to two years’ imprisonment as part of the anti-crime campaign introduced by Poulsen.

READ ALSO: German biker gang with links to violence, killings sets up in Denmark

The minister said that he hopes the harsher sentences would encourage people possessing weapons to take advantage of the amnesty period.

“Last year there were 54 shooting incidents in public places related to biker gang and other gang-related conflicts. That’s not how things should be in Denmark. Everyone should be able to go safely wherever they want,” Poulsen said via a press statement.

READ ALSO: Danish gang wars intensify with grenade attack

“The amnesty is one of several initiatives introduced in the [anti-gang crime] package that will restrict criminals’ access to weapons. If this exclusive opportunity to hand in weapons under amnesty is not taken advantage of, only tougher punishment for possessing illegal weapons and using weapons in public remain,” the minster continued.

Similar amnesties in 2009 and 2013 both resulted in tens of thousands of weapons being submitted to police, according to the ministry, with 9,589 and 19,426 items handed during in the two years respectively.

Although weapons can be handed in by any member of the public and not just gang members, the reduction of weapons in circulation will make it harder for them to be acquired by the targets of Poulsen’s campaign, says the ministry. 

CRIME

Danish government backs removing children from gang-connected families

Denmark’s government wants authorities to be able to move children out of families in which parents are gang members and is likely to formalise the measure in parliament.

Published: 9 April 2024 13:38 CEST
Danish government backs removing children from gang-connected families

The justice spokesperson with senior coalition partner the Social Democrats, Bjørn Brandenborg, told regional media TV2 Fyn that he wants authorities to have the power to remove children from their families in certain circumstances where the parents are gang members.

Brandenborg’s comments came on Monday, after Odense Municipality said it had spent 226 million kroner since 2009 on social services for eight specific families with gang connections.

“There is simply a need for us to give the authorities full backing and power to forcibly remove children early so we break the food chain and the children don’t become part of gang circles,” he said.

The measure will be voted on in parliament “within a few weeks”, he said.

An earlier agreement on anti-gang crime measures, which was announced by the government last November, includes provisions for measures of this nature, Brandenborg later confirmed to newswire Ritzau.

“Information [confirming] that close family members of a child or young person have been convicted for gang crime must be included as a significant and element in the municipality’s assessment” of whether an intervention is justified, the agreement states according to Ritzau.

The relevant part of November’s political agreement is expected to be voted on in parliament this month.

READ ALSO: Denmark cracks down on gang crime with extensive new agreement

Last year, Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard told political media Altinget that family relations to a gang member could be a parameter used by authorities when assessing whether a child should be forcibly removed from parents.

In the May 2023 interview, Hummelgaard called the measure a “hard and far-reaching measure”.

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