Silent Massacres by Firearms in Iran

News related to gun violence in the United States is presented in the media of the Islamic Republic far more prominently than news about crimes and killings in Iran. The policy of 'blackening' Western countries and 'whitening' the Islamic Republic has led to less reflection of gun and cold weapon killings in public media in Iran. Details of these killings remain untold even on some websites that report statistics. However, firearms are quietly killing in the country. Where do they come from? Currently, arms traffickers sell handguns, mostly made in Iraq and Turkey, outside Iran for between 30,000 to 40,000 tomans, in border provinces between 50,000 to 100,000 tomans, and in central cities from 100,000 tomans to even over a million tomans. These prices easily make firearms accessible to the poorest segments of society. There are no statistics in Iran regarding the amount of firearms in the hands of the people, as non-hunting firearms are illegal, and at the same time, weapons easily enter the country from the eastern and western borders. Additionally, millions of weapons fell into the hands of the people during the revolution, of which a small portion has been collected. Therefore, the names of those who buy weapons go through no filtering, and the type of weapon is also uncontrollable. Between 1997 and 2001, more than 2,025 cases of armed collective conflicts were recorded in relevant centers, resulting in 189 deaths and 1,747 injuries. These figures have increased in the 80s and 90s. According to official police reports, the annual murder rate in Iran fluctuates between 2,500 and 3,000. 34.6% of these murders occur with firearms. This means that about 800 to 1,000 people are killed with firearms. (Head of NAJA's Criminal Investigation Department, October 7, 2015) These figures do not correspond with the statistics of provinces. In Fars province alone, 'the use of illegal firearms in the past month [September] resulted in 27 victims.' (Police Commander of Fars Province, Tabnak, October 7, 2015) This means that in Fars province alone, about 300 murders occurred in 2015. In Khuzestan province, in just one month, 14 people were killed with firearms in three incidents (the باغملک incident 12 people, the killing of two in a Tekiyeh in Dezful, September 24, and News Online October 16, 2015). Thus, one cannot trust the official statistics in this regard. Numerous reasons for committing murder have been mentioned, which can be classified into several categories: aggression, enmity, hatred, injury, delusion, disturbance, madness, and anger. Usually, a combination of these factors is present in individual or collective killings. Here, I will address the specific factors of murder in Iran. These factors can be presented in six topics: 1. The lack of methods for resolving disputes without resorting to state institutions. The government-centric attitude among government officials and a significant portion of the public, alongside inefficiency and corruption, has led to the perception that taking disputes to courts does not result in fair judgments. Alongside this, alternative dispute resolution methods in Iran (such as mediation, selecting a trusted person for both parties, or civil peace courts) either do not exist or are very weak. In this situation, individuals take justice into their own hands and carry out what they consider justice and law. Killing with weapons is one of these cases. 2. Psychological disorders; according to the Deputy Minister of Health, 'in a study conducted in 2011, it was found that 23.6% of individuals in the study population aged 15 to 64 suffer from psychiatric disorders.' (ISNA, October 21, 2015) One of these psychological disorders is detachment from reality. Lack of information and awareness of conditions has led to the delusion in some minds that they can change reality through power and violence. 3. The value of being aggressive in public: In a patriarchal society with an authoritarian government, being aggressive in public becomes a value. These aggressions can sometimes be very violent and lead to the death of one of the two parties. The presence of weapons increases the number of victims and the effectiveness of these actions. 4. The sanctity of violence: The religion that the Shia clergy promotes in Iran is a very violent religion that does not shy away from any violent means (executions, stoning, shooting, amputating fingers and limbs, flogging, and other forms of torture) to achieve its goals. 5. The severe prevalence of domestic violence: One of the main sources of murder in Iran is domestic violence, which is often resorted to by fathers and husbands in family disputes. Domestic murders account for about 34% of murders in Iran. (Salamat News, December 10, 2014) The availability of firearms naturally leads to shootings in such violence. 6. The victimhood mentality of the majority of citizens and the legitimacy of severe reactions: Most Iranian citizens identify themselves as victims of circumstances with theories like conspiracy (those close to power) or approaches like blaming others and not accepting individual responsibility in crises and failures. This perspective is very effective in justifying severe reactions in crisis situations. These six factors have been inductively derived from murders that have been described in detail in the media. Naturally, with the publication of more details about murders, this list can be made more precise and the explanations related to them can be expanded.