Brnabic: We will get Serbia disarmed, revoke 90 pct of firearms licences

BELGRADE - PM Ana Brnabic said on Thursday Serbian authorities would get the country disarmed and revoke 90 pct of firearms licences in the wake of the Belgrade and Mladenovac mass shootings.

Responding to opposition MPs at a parliament session on the security situation in the country, Brnabic said the number of firearms licences in Serbia had peaked in 2008, during the rule of "those who are today fighting against violence."

She said the number of firearms licences had totalled 1,172,468 in 2008, declining to under 800,000 in 2013 and to 761,415 at the end of Q1 2023.

"Therefore, we have been doing our job seriously and responsibly. When you look at how things used to be and what we have done, the system did not fail here. But yes, we will now disarm Serbia and seize 90 pct of weapons, and we will all definitely be safer," Brnabic said.

She said the opposition was manipulating with numbers and that its demands for a dismissal of the interior minister, the Security Information Agency chief and the members of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media were politically motivated.

"You have not made a single concrete proposal about what we should do to reduce violence in Serbia and how children and their parents can feel safer. All proposals, down to the very last one, have been political, which also says a lot about the nature of your protest," she said.