Turkish families gather to remember children killed by gun violence
Activists say rising gun ownership and poor regulation are posing a growing risk to innocents.
ISTANBUL — Thirteen-month-old Kaan Tas was being pushed around a garden by his sister when she noticed blood coming from his head. He died a short while later, the latest young life lost to gun crime in Turkey.
The Tas family was visiting the southern city of Gaziantep when Kaan was hit in the head on Tuesday evening by a “tired bullet” — a round fired into the air, usually at celebrations such as weddings or send-offs for men starting their military service. The phenomenon is widespread in Turkey and is one of the problems of growing gun ownership, according to campaigners calling for tougher restrictions and penalties on weapons.
Erkan Aydin, a lawmaker from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), recently said guns kill 15 people a day in the country of 84.7 million.
In a question submitted to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu earlier this month, Aydin said media reports showed 3,801 armed incidents last year, a 75% increase on 2015. The vast majority involved firearms, of which there are 25 million in circulation, he added.
