Iraq expands legal private firearms ownership -- for public safety.

Iraq: citizens of that turbulent nation also have new options for self-defense. This week, Reuters reported that a recent change in government policy “allows citizens to own and carry handguns, semi-automatic rifles and other assault weapons after obtaining official authorization and an identity card that also details the individual’s weapons.” Prior to the change, “gun sales were restricted to firearms for hunting and sport.”

Of course, a lack of legal avenues for gun ownership did not mean that the volatile country’s population was previously unarmed. Faced with anarchic violence in the wake of the Iraq War, average Iraqis armed themselves through various extralegal means. A December 2006 New York Times article by C.J. Chivers documented the country’s flourishing black market gun trade. Reporting from Sulaimaniya, Chivers wrote, “The weapons are easy to find, resting among others in the semihidden street markets here, where weapons are sold in tea houses, the back rooms of grocery kiosks, cosmetics stores and rug shops, or from the trunks of cars.”

Speaking with Reuters about the new firearms policy, Baghdad gun shop owner Hamza Maher explained, “The reason for buying is self-defence, and it’s safer for citizens to buy a weapon from an authorised store instead of from an unknown source.” Maher went on to say that he believes the new rules will decrease crime, telling the news outlet, “The criminal who plans to attack others will understand that he will pay heavy price.”

Another encouraging sign? In a part of the world not typically celebrated for its progressive tendencies, it appears – at least anecdotally - that women are increasingly interested in armed self-defense. Maher noted, “Customers are mainly men, but the number of women buyers is growing.”