Baghdad begins to disarm after ban

[unhappycamper]

Baghdad begins to disarm after ban
By James Warden, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, October 16, 2008

BAGHDAD — In the past, the soldiers with 1st Battalion, 68th Infantry would have had no problem finding an AK-47 assault rifle in Omar Abdul Satar’s home. Iraqis have a long history of owning guns, and few homes in the country are without one.

But the government is trying to change that. It recently decided to prohibit guns in the capital. That was bad news for Satar. When the U.S. soldiers and their Iraqi counterparts found his AK, they confiscated it and took it back to their base in Baghdad’s Adhamiyah district.

Iraqi soldiers began collecting private guns around the capital in September after the Iraqi government instituted the gun ban. More recently, American soldiers have been searching homes to round up firearms around the city as well. Only citizens with the proper permit can keep their weapons. Unlike in the United States, they usually must have a job that requires a gun to obtain a permit.

The law previously allowed all homes to have one gun — invariably an AK — and one ammunition magazine. Most Iraqis deemed their guns to be an essential item for living in an environment where safety can’t be taken for granted. Capt. Patrick Soule, commander of Company D, 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, recalled their ubiquitous presence before the ban.

"Just about every home I went into in Dora (a Baghdad neighborhood) had an AK," said Soule, whose company is attached to 1-68. "Most people just showed it to you."


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58170