98% in Kirkuk feel frustrated by civilian owned weapons

[Anthea]

Kirkuk Now

98% of people feel frustrated with prevalence of weapons amongst civilians. The absolute majority of people in Kirkuk are against the vast prevalence of weapons amongst the civilians in the city, according to the latest survey conducted by the Iraqi Hiwa Society for Human Rights.

Srood Ahmed, the head of the IHS told Kirkuk Now “In the survey we conducted, 98.8% of the participants wanted to limit the possession of weapons by civilians while 1.2% did not see the limitations as being needed.”

More than 500 individuals participated in the survey with 58% of them being males and 42% females, and all being from different ethnicity and social statuses.

“The survey was conducted because we have felt the danger of the vast prevalence and easy to reach for weapons in the city which has affected the society badly and causes violence,” Srood Ahmed added.

“The reason for the high prevalence and possession of weapons among the civilians is due to the large number of armed forces such as police, special forces, security forces, political parties and armed organizations. As most of the civilians are employees, this means that they are licensed to carry the weapons,” Srood Ahmed commented.

More than 98% of the participants think that the disturbance of the security, violence and murders are reasons in the increase in the prevalence of possession of weapons amongst civilians, while less than 2% are for carrying weapons with them claiming the lack of security as the reason.

http://kirkuknow.com/english/index.php/ ... civilians/