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BAGHDAD — Iraq is upping its efforts to restrict the public's access to weapons, which will be a daunting task given the prevalence of weapons on the market and their wide exchange on social media.
When the country's top Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, demanded Dec. 15 that the government escalate operations to put all weapons under its control, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced a plan to do just that. At times in the past, sales were blatant and widespread; after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, weapons were sold on the streets in most Iraqi cities. That's no longer the case — but now dealers have the internet.
