Giving the last salute to the deceased rifle due to the government's decision

It is easier to be a minister than a barber.
First, the barber must know how to shave, and secondly, he must be careful not to cut anyone, and the minister neither has to know how to shave nor does he have to be careful if he cuts anyone, because even if he does, he is not guilty.
Branislav Nušić, Serbian writer, 1864-1938

Already at the beginning of the 20th century, this prominent writer in this region gave a description of the responsibilities of a minister in our Serbian government with this quote.
Do what you want, you are not responsible for decisions and actions...

I've been thinking for months whether I should write something on Hive about the "smartness" of our ministers, so when I came across several photos of innocently "killed" rifle because of their decision, I decided to share my thoughts on the work and responsibility of the authorities.

In May 2023, two horrific mass slaughters took place in Serbia (unthinkable for our region until then).
A 13-year-old minor, in an elementary school, shot his friends and killed 9 of them with a pistol he stole from his father's safe. He also killed a school guard. A total of 10 victims (if we do not count his life and the lives of the families of those killed and his family).

And one day later, a 20-year-old man killed 9 people and wounded 13 with an automatic weapon (a popular Kalashnikov), which was illegally kept in the house.
Really horrible crimes, absolutely condemnable, so that they are not forgotten and not repeated...

But this is not my thinking now about these crimes, which I condemn and I hope for the maximum punishment for the perpetrators, but thinking about the government and the ministers who have thought of what to do to prevent something like that from happening again.
A few days after that massacre, the government passed a restrictive decree on the possession of weapons by private individuals.

New laws calls on all those who have illegal weapons to hand them over without proving their origin (which I support), and for all the others who have proper permits to possess them, make decisions on even more rigorous storage.

My father-in-law is not a hunter, but he has two pieces of weapons that he won as a prize in some competitions.
One pistol, about which I have already written, but also a rifle, M24/47, Zavod44.

I didn't research or read anything about that rifle, I just held it in my hands once, when I took these photos.

He kept this rifle, which he never fired, in the wardrobe, disassembled (separated firing pin and magazines with ammunition, as well as the set lock on the trigger).
But with the new law, he was required to buy a metal display case, in which the rifle could be locked.
In addition to the annual tax he paid for owning that rifle, as well as the amount of money he paid for the license to own weapons, he was not ready to make additional expenses and buy a display case, which would further complicate the space in his apartment.
He decided to hand over this rifle for destruction.

Our government and "wise" ministers made the decision to burden the citizens with additional levies, so that they would hand over their regular weapons, thinking that probably then all potential monsters and murderers would hand over their pistols, bombs and automatic weapons to the police?

Well, my dear ministers, they won't. Those who have the mentality of monsters and murderers, are not those who have proper documentation for the weapons they have, which they keep as a souvenir or a gift, and for that keeping they pay all taxes properly until now.
Not.
Those monsters and murderers will get weapons with which to commit their crimes through other, illegal channels and in any case do what they set out to do.

Dear authorities and police, instead of following the reports of neighbors and citizens, when the sounds of automatic weapons or even the sound of the detonation of a hand grenade are heard from the surrounding forests or abandoned buildings - when one of these future killers is practicing his skills, you attack the citizens who use their weapons they almost never take it out of the house, or if they do, they take it hunting or to the shooting range.

Bad job for you ministers. Exactly as described by Branislav Nušić.

Good luck, so the father-in-law decided to buy a reinforced safe in which he can keep a gun, I would be very sorry if he decided to hand it over to the police...
A small safe with one lock in which he kept it until the new law was passed, now it is not was caught.
Unlike a rifle, that pistol is shot at the range, so I'm glad he kept it.
I suggested that he make a trophy weapon out of the rifle, in order to keep it as a souvenir, but that is also a very expensive procedure, for which he still needs some permits, so it was easier for him to say goodbye to it.

With this post, I say goodbye to her, even though I didn't shoot her...