Sweden’s government has announced plans to strengthen its gun laws, including a ban on semi-automatic weapons, after the country’s worst mass shooting left 11 people dead.
Police confirm that seven women and three men – aged between 28 and 68 – were killed in the deadly mass shooting. Gun violence in schools is rare in Sweden, a nation of 10.5 million people.
On Tuesday, a gunman killed 10 people at an education center in Örebro, about 125 miles west of Stockholm, before shooting himself. Police have not yet named the victims or the perpetrator.
Local media has identified the attacker as Rickard Andersson, a 35-year-old Swedish recluse, who had reportedly been living unemployed and was suffering from psychological problems. Police said they have found no evidence of an ideological motive at this point.
Sweden’s worst mass shooting
The attack that has sent shockwaves through Sweden. Local reports suggest that the victims included several Christians who fled persecution in Syria.
While the victims’ identities have not been officially confirmed, their families and communities have shared information. Among them is Salim Isker, a 29-year-old Syrian refugee who fled the conflict in 2015 with his mother and sister after his father was killed. Isker was studying at the Risbergska centre, a school popular with immigrants learning Swedish and other subjects.
Bassam Al Sheleh, a 48-year-old baker and cook and father of two, was also named by Swedish media as a victim. He had been studying English at the center. The Bosnian foreign ministry confirmed that a Bosnian national was killed and another injured in the attack.
The investigation into the attack is ongoing, and the motive remains unclear, with reports suggesting the shooter may have had ties to the school.
Gun reforms in Sweden
Speaking during an official trip Latvia, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told reporters that the intention of new gun control measures would be to “ensure that only the right people have guns in Sweden.”
In a post on social media, Ulf Kristersson acknowledged that the event had caused fear among immigrant communities, and urged people to “unite and stand behind all that we hold dear together”. He added: “My thoughts are with the relatives who have now received the call that is the worst one can get. To you, I want to say: you are not alone. We stand beside you.”
Sweden moved swiftly to make changes following the attack. The “horrific act of violence in Örebro raises several key questions about gun legislation,” the government said, announcing that it plans to make changes to clarify rules for ownership eligibility testing and limit access to “certain semiautomatic weapons such as the AR-15.”
The AR-15 is a lightweight semiautomatic rifle based on the Colt AT-15, the civilian version of the M16 used by the U.S. military since the 1960s. It is one of the most popular rifles in the U.S., that has been involved in numerous deadly mass shootings.
Sweden has a relatively high level of gun ownership compared to other European countries, though much lower than in the U.S. Most weapons are legally held for hunting. According to 2017 data from The Small Arms Survey, there were about 2.3 million civilian-owned guns in Sweden—around 23 per 100 people, compared to 120 in the U.S. and 4.6 in Britain.
The recent attack has raised concerns about whether school security should be enhanced. Sweden’s Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer announced that the government is considering expediting legislation that would make it easier for schools to install surveillance cameras.