I Will Never Hold a Weapon Again - Combatting Illicit Arms in Western Balkans

In the tiny town of Crvenka, 14-year-old Milica Milanković was playing basketball in her backyard when her life changed forever. Just a few doors down, her neighbors had decided to shoot some guns in celebration.

“I threw a party to celebrate that my wife and my son, my first child, finally arrived home,” Marko Grabež recalls. “My father and I fired a gun and I don’t know who fired a bullet that injured a girl, but that doesn’t matter. I bear all consequences.”

Incidents like these are frequent in the Western Balkans, where celebratory gunfire is deeply entrenched in the culture. Every day seems to bring some news story on firearm accidents at weddings, family celebrations, night clubs, even funerals.  Read more