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In the aftermath of the terrible mass murder that took place in the city of Örebro in central Sweden on February 4, where at least ten people plus the perpetrator lost their lives (two victims are still undergoing intensive care a week after the murders took place), Sweden’s liberal conservative government together with the cooperation party Sweden Democrats (nationalists and conservatives) have decided to tighten Swedish gun legislation.
The deed was carried out by a lone Swedish man aged 35 and using his own weapons. He was not an active hunter, but thanks to his hunting license he had been able to license at least four weapons, two of which were semi-automatic. The individual in question had failed school, he had no job, he lived in isolation and apparently suffered from some kind of neuropsychiatric disorder.
After the disaster in Örebro, the Swedish government felt pressured to make some kind of move. They chose, among other things, to declare that a certain type of semi-automatic rifle that has a military-like appearance should be banned in hunting. The ban concerns rifles of the so-called R-15 and R-10 models. The uniqueness of these weapons is not their function but their appearance. They are weapons that have a military appearance and can evoke other associations than traditional hunting. The fear is that unsuitable individuals will be attracted to take the hunting exam and thereby be able to access a weapons license.
Swedish hunting is part of traditional Swedish culture. With the help of dogs, hares, deer, moose, stags, bears and today also wolves are hunted. The Swedish public has great confidence in Swedish hunters and in Swedish hunting. But if military-style weapons enter the hunt, the hunters’ trust capital risks, according to many, being eroded to some extent. Why should adult men pose with military-style weapons when they’re only supposed to shoot wild boar and moose?
When deciding to ban weapons with a military-like appearance the government relies, among other things, on what the Swedish police think. It is a fact that military-looking semi-automatic weapons have been used in mass murders in the United States. In five of the ten deadliest attacks that have taken place in the United States in modern times, on five of these occasions, semi-automatic rifles that have a military appearance have been used. And many believe that these rifles can trigger undesirable behavior in potential assailants.
What the government and the Sweden Democrats do not seem to have anticipated was that the protests against the law change would be so intense. For several years, Sweden has experienced a wave of violence with shootings and explosions linked to organized crime dominated by people of foreign origin. And even if the act in Örebro had nothing to do with that type of crime, many Swedes, and many hunters, feel that law-abiding hunters must now pay the price for a destabilization of Sweden, which is quite obviously connected to failed integration.
In the debate that arose, it became clear that even in Sweden there is a population that believes it should have the right to protect itself against criminals and murderers. This is a phenomenon we tend to associate with the United States. But it seems that the same type of popular conservatism also exists in Sweden. Parts of society and the media seem shocked by this. Social currents that have never found expression in established politics in Sweden are now emerging to the surface of Swedish political debate.
Modern and hyper-individualistic Sweden seems to have its own “read-neck” population. Swedes too can be tired of the state stepping in and controlling their use of their own weapons. Is popular conservatism on the rise in Sweden?