On October 2, 2004, in the neighborhood of Hay el Sellom in Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Beirut, a man was showing off his firearm like a toy when a bullet shot out and ripped through his head.1 On September 27, 2004, in the town of Btekhnay in Baabda, a family dispute led to the death of a lawyer and her daughter at the hands of a young man who killed his relative and then committed suicide. Thus, the dangers apply to the person bearing the weapon himself. If the weapon is mishandled, he himself could end up the victim, then the closest people in his family. For example, on August 26, 2003, a young man killed his father in Raashin, Keserwan, over family issues.2 On August 6, 2003, a father killed his daughter and his wife in Hadath3. During the night of May 24, 2017, in Jennata in South Lebanon, Mahmoud killed his wife and minor daughter and committed suicide.4 On June 5, 2018, in the town of Dawra in old Akkar, a family clash degenerated following a dispute over a plot of land leading to the killing of Hosni al-Sahmrani (24) and the injury of his father with bullets fired by his brother. On 12 June 2018, also in Akkar, Ahmad Ayyash fired an assault weapon at his wife (25) and son who was not yet five years old.5 Thus, the availability of guns may lead a person to search for a victim, where he himself may become the victim, as mentioned above, or members of his family. This may help commit a crime because a moment of anger is a moment of temporary madness that may prompt a human being to utter words and do things that he may regret later on, after he comes to his senses. An apology and compensation may not be enough to restore the relationship, especially if the act has led to permanent disability or death, then there is no way to bring back a life that has been lost.
On July 28, 2003 in Tekrit, Akkar, an 8-year-old boy was killed by a bomb he was playing with and his sister was injured. On April 7, 2017, Khutab Thaibesh received a shot in his hand from his father’s pistol that he was playing with in the al-Tira neighborhood of Ain el-Hilweh camp, Saida.6 On August 3, 2018, another tragic incident in Baalbek killed 12-year-old Bahaa Hleihel after playing with his father’s pistol. Yes, this is how lightly some people take weapons, as if they were toys. Weapons are not toys, either for children or adults. They are nothing but a tool for violence, murder, death and crime. If we want them for protection, keep weapons in their right place, otherwise they are a preeminent danger to our human security.
The use of weapons in our individual conflicts is rife; these are scenes that no rational person or civilized society would tolerate. On August 31, 2003, two people were killed and one person wounded in a dispute over the installation of an air conditioner. On June 14, 2004, one woman was killed and six people wounded in a dispute over land irrigation. On January 1, 2004, in Ajaltoun, Keserwan, some people were annoyed by a neighbor slamming the door of his car. They killed his two boys and wounded five, before fleeing the scene.7 On April 25, 2011, four people were wounded in a clash over a pre-paid mobile card in Baalbek.8 On April 17, 2017, Mark Yammine opened fire on Khalil Qattan and Talal Hameed al-Awad in Qabb Ilyas over a cup of Nescafe, killing them.9 Then there was Roy Hamouche from Mansourieh, who was added to the list of victims of illegal weapons as a result of a minor traffic incident on June 6, 2017. In Baissour, music turned from a source of joy to a source of sorrow as General Security inspector Makram Mulaeb died after sustaining a shot to his leg.10 In June of this year, in Brital, four-year-old Rua Mazloum died of a stray bullet following an armed clash between a group of young men over whose right of way it was. About a month before that incident, six-year-old Lamis Naqoush from Baalbek had met a similar fate as a result of a personal issue in the city. On August 6, 2018, Alaa A. fired a military weapon in Adloun, el-Zahrani, on three colleagues working in a company from which he was fired.11 And the list goes on. Yes, they had no other way other than weapons to deal with their conflicts, since the skills and methods for peaceful conflict resolution and properly handling anger are not part of their culture and are not included in our educational curricula.
As for the celebratory gunfire, its uses and its victims, there is hardly an occasion in many areas of Lebanon where firing off rounds of bullets is not one of the favorite forms of expression of some Lebanese. These occasions include the release of election results. Thus, in 2005, Speaker Nabih Berri declined to hold a congratulatory reception for his win as Speaker of the Parliament as a result of the death of two people and injury of ten from stray bullets fired celebrating his win. Coinciding with the return of hajj pilgrims, a young woman, Rim Shaker (18), died as a result of an injury to her head from a stray bullet in front of her house in the town of Muhammara, Minieh District, on September 11, 2017.12 The announcement of the results of official school examinations is also one of such events during which people take up this backward habit of expression. Of course, this leads to casualties as during the latest incident on June 22, 2018 when a nine-year-old girl was injured in Aabdeh with a stray bullet. On August 15, 2018, Ali H.A. (94), from Mishmish, Akkar, died from a stray bullet injury in front of his house.13 When a bullet is fired, the sound it makes frightens people and sows panic, confusion and fear. There have also been incidents of not only bullets fired but also grenades and RPGs on some occasions. There is also the issue of material losses where the cost of a bullet ranges between LBP 1,500 and LBP 3,000. The shooter also undermines the authority of the State by violating its laws. The shooter is often trying to display false bravado, which is in fact merely a show of weakness and inability for civilized expression, where he is unable to express himself in any other way but this backward form of expression. This method dates back to around 8,000 BC, when rattling was the easiest sound to make to express feelings of joy and sorrow, rather than literature and arts. When a bullet is fired, it can kill man or animal; cause permanent disability; light a car, a gas station, a home or a forest; damage solar panels, plastic tents or water tanks; or result in other forms of material damage.
We may not know the magnitude of damage and what it may lead to, but there will definitely be damage, and potentially murder. If the shooter accepts to be a potential murderer, he is therefore a murderer, and society must deal with him accordingly.
The legal controls in accordance with the amended law № 71 of 2016 made it become an appropriate law to deal with such crimes. By virtue of this law, the shooter of a licensed or unlicensed weapon is subject to a minimum sentence of six months’ imprisonment and eight times the minimum wage, confiscation of his weapon and a lifetime ban on a weapons possession permit. These sanctions may increase depending on the extent of the damage caused by the act.
Given that behavior of people is determined by a society’s culture and not just by the deterrence of law; it is a culture based on knowing the consequences of a person’s actions, a culture of peace and the peaceful resolution of conflicts, staying away from the language of violence. This phenomenon should be addressed by all concerned parties, whether governmental or non-governmental, and it is the duty of the legislature to reconsider the Weapons and Ammunition Law, which was issued by a legislative decree in 1959. There are many reasons for reconsidering it, not least of which is that after it was issued, Lebanon experienced a civil war between 1975 and 1990, in which weapons entered almost every house, and Lebanon is currently ranked 9th in the list of civilian guns per capita according to the Small Arms Survey. There have also been many international mechanisms introduced that must be taken into consideration in order to catch up with civilized development in the world, including the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects; the Arms Trade Treaty; the Firearms Protocol; and the International Tracing Instrument. The law aims primarily to develop and regulate primarily before deterring and punishing, and the executive branch should not limit itself to the application of the law through the security institutions, notably the Internal Security Forces. The other ministries have other roles, such as the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Information, etc. Other influential forces involved in the shaping of the society’s culture also have active roles; these include associations, parties, religious and media institutions, schools, universities, municipalities, mukhtars, trade unions and the private sector.
This a collective responsibility and everyone should abide by the law and build the society’s culture. Let us keep home a safe place for the family and disarm it if keeping a weapon is not necessary for protecting oneself. If it is necessary, let it then be kept out of sight and not available to any member of the family. Let us avoid carrying it around lest it becomes a source of shame at a moment of anger and leads us where we don’t wish to go. Let us avoid using weapons to express feelings of sorrow and joy, as there are other civilized ways of doing that. Let us teach our children not to come near guns or touch them, because they are a danger to them. Let us avoid playing with weapons and showing them off to people, especially children. Let us amend the relevant law and work together towards applying it properly.
The chaos of possession and use of weapons is a calamity to human societies throughout the world. Lebanon is not exempt from this phenomenon. Developed countries have succeeded in controlling it. Let our country lead in performing its duty with regard to this issue and put an end to it by controlling guns and not necessarily through disarmament. Let it set the example for other states in the region. It is not a matter of either stripping people of guns or letting this chaos go on and bearing the terrible consequences. But rather it is a matter of regulating guns and exerting control, which can be done under the banner «Use Guns in Their Right Place». There is no doubt that the task is daunting, but it is not impossible. Our success is certain if we believe in the importance of this humanitarian, moral and human issue, and if we succeed in keeping it away from politics and placing it exclusively within the framework of human security.
1 - Al-Balad newspaper, October 3, 2004
2 - Al-Bayraq newspaper, August, 28, 2003
3 - Annahar newspaper, August 6, 2003
4 - Lebanon Debate, December 29, 2017
5 - Anfeh ET News, June 13, 2018
6 - National News Agency, April 18, 2017
7 - Al-Balad, December 3, 2004
8 - Al-Mustaqbal, April 26, 2011
9 - Lebanon Debate, December 29, 2017
10 - Lebanon Debate, December 29, 2017
11 - LBCI GROUP TV, August 6, 2018
12 - Al Modon, September 10, 2017
13 - LBCI GROUP TV, August 14, 2018