Serbia: 13,500 guns “surrendered” after mass shootings

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Authorities in Serbia on Sunday displayed stacks of guns and cartons of hand grenades from the thousands of weapons, including anti-tank rocket launchers, that they said people handed over since back-to-back mass shootings stunned the Balkan nation.

The government declared a one-month amnesty period for citizens to surrender unregistered weapons as part of a crackdown on guns following the two shootings in two days this month that left 17 people dead, many of them children.

Populist President Aleksandar Vucic, whose government has faced public pressure in the wake of the separate shootings at a Belgrade school and in two villages, accompanied top police officials to view the assortment of arms arrayed near the town of Smederevo, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the capital.

Officials said residents had turned over about 13,500 items since the amnesty opened on May 8.

Serbia: Guns, grenades and rocket launchers among 13,500 weapons surrendered after mass shootings

Serbia: Guns, grenades and rocket launchers among 13,500 weapons surrendered after mass shootings