The General Police Inspectorate calls on the citizens who illegally hold guns to surrender them. During three months, the Inspectorate will conduct an information campaign entitled “It’s the right time, yield up the guns!”,  IPN reports.

General Police Inspectorate chief Alexandru Pânzaru told a news conference that the illegally held guns generate security risks. “These guns pose a threat as they are kept in inappropriate conditions, particularly in safes, and are not regularly subject to technical examinations. This generates increased risks. Police statistics show that arms held illegally were used in most of the gun crimes and incidents,” he stated.

Alexandru Pânzaru called on the citizens to have confidence in the police and to surrender the guns, assuring that they will not bear responsibility for holding a gun illegally. Until October 25, the owners of pneumatic guns are also obliged to declare them to the police. The owners of old arm bearing permits, issued before 2013, are obliged to renew them.

Marin Maxian, head of the Inspectorate’s General Public Security Division, said that by this campaign they aim to inform the citizens about the possibility of handing in illegally held guns and the dangers to which they expose themselves by keeping arms in illegal conditions. The major objective of the campaign is to reduce the number of illegally held arms and of gun crimes and incidents.

Under the law, the persons who own guns illegally and do no declare them face up to three years in jail. Those who surrender them voluntarily are spared from criminal liability.

According to the data presented by the General Police Inspectorate, 58,000 persons have gun permits in Moldova, while the number of legally registered arms stands at about 71,000. During the past ten years, the police confiscated over 19,000 illegally held arms and munitions. The arms that do not meet the technical requirements are destroyed, while the rest are put into the legal circulation.