Arif Dallı (11), was watching the fireworks with his family from the balcony of their house during the first minutes of 2013. Suddenly, Arif fainted. Thinking Arif was dizzy, his father immediately took him to the hospital. There, it was understood that Arif was shot at the head by someone who most likely fired his pistol up to the air as a way of celebrating new year. Arif died 9 days later. The bullet in his brain was the only evidence that could help to find the shooter. The person who killed Arif “accidentally” has not been found yet and probably will never be.

Arif is only one example of numerous victims in Turkey that have died because random gun firing. In a country like Turkey, where being a man is characterized by the possession of three things, a horse (car), a woman, and a gun and where people never find themselves in lack of a reason for firing their guns, firearm ownership and gun related crimes appear to be an important problem affecting people’s security.

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Turkey Chronicle 3 – Civilian Ownership of Firearms in Turkey