Sweden Democrats member of parliament Josef Fransson believes that Sweden should test a new system where civilians can be allowed to carry weapons to fight crime and increased terrorist threats.
– Today, the criminals know that they can do whatever the hell they want without consequences, he says.
The Sweden Democrats’ member of parliament and member of the business committee, Josef Fransson, is testing the idea of introducing a system where civilians will be allowed to carry handguns in order to stop terrorist attacks or fight crime.
“Sweden’s law-abiding citizens need better protection against terrorists and gang crime. Thinking about whether it would be possible to allow unpunished civilians to carry handguns in combination with ongoing training and shooting tests. I think many would take the chance even if they had to pay every single (sic!) kroner themselves. What do you say? Considering the benefits?”, writes the SD top on the media platform X (formerly Twitter).
When Aftonbladet reaches Josef Fransson, he says that he is playing with the idea and testing his idea.
Allowing more people to carry weapons in public could lead to terrorist attacks being stopped, says Josef Fransson and exemplifies the crime on Drottninggatan in 2017.
– If you compare us to the United States, which definitely does not have a perfect system, there is a part of the private population that could stop such an attack as happened on Drottninggatan. It probably wouldn’t have gone that far in the US.
One of the leading causes of death for children and youth in the United States is firearms, do we want this?
– The US system is far from perfect. It would be combined with an ongoing, continuous training and that you are allowed to take a shooting test at least once a year.
Josef Fransson says he believes citizens are willing to participate in a program where they are allowed to carry weapons to contribute to public safety.
– I think that a lot of people in the population would be interested in contributing to society’s security in that way. Then it’s about sifting out those who are suitable, to distinguish so that you don’t have psychological problems or a criminal past.
When asked how he views the risk of weapons ending up in the wrong hands, Josef Fransson replies that he believes that risk is vanishingly small. He foresees that a small part of the population may be eligible to carry weapons.
Josef Fransson has so far not put forward any concrete proposal in the Riksdag. But he sees advantages in more people being allowed to carry weapons. The idea is then that they will be allowed to do it secretly.
– I don’t think you should be so afraid of this if you manage it in a reasonable way. I’m not talking about making it legal for idiots and idiots to carry guns, like in the US. Probably there would be many hunters or people who have an interest in sport shooting. They could be interested in contributing to both civil defense but also against crime and terrorists.
Are you convinced that safety would increase for the public if more people were allowed to carry weapons?
– Yes, I think so. Today, the criminals know they can do whatever the hell they want without consequences. More or less anyway. The risk is too low for criminals and just the knowledge that there may be, for example, civilian police officers who are armed, then perhaps one would have thought more than once before drawing a weapon during a robbery.