GPS to be installed on guns

National Police Agency Commissioner Kang Sin-myeong, right, speaks about how to strengthen gun regulations as Chong Jong-sup, minister of government administration and home affairs, listens during an interpellation session at the National Assembly, Monday. / Yonhap

By Lee Kyung-min

Police are considering attaching location-tracking devices to all firearms owned by civilians in an effort to beef up gun control.

Personal storage of firearms or live ammunition is also likely to be banned outright. Currently, individuals are allowed to keep 400 cartridges and firearms of 5.5 mm caliber or smaller in their homes.

In addition, gun ownership will be permanently banned for citizens who have served prison terms.

These are part of measures being discussed by the government and the ruling Saenuri Party following two deadly shooting rampages last week that resulted in eight deaths, officials said Monday.

If mandatory attachment of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) on firearms is implemented, some 60,000 firearms retained by individuals will be ordered back for storage in police stations.

On Feb. 25, a gunman, surnamed Kang, shot dead his ex-girlfriend's brother, her 74-year-old father and her boyfriend, with an 18.5mm shotgun before turning the gun on himself in Sejong. Two days later, a 75-year-old man, surnamed Jeon, shot dead his older brother, the brother’s wife and a police officer in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, before shooting himself.

The two unusual shooting rampages prompted calls for stricter gun control laws.

Under the new measures, firearm use, except for hunting, will be even more strictly controlled.

Firearm safekeeping will only be allowed at police stations near designated hunting grounds or the residences of gun owners. Also, purchases of live ammunition will be only allowed at outlets near hunting grounds.

The authorities will also keep track of the amount of ammunition purchased and used.

Until now, the carrying of guns has been permitted and the safekeeping of firearms has been allowed in police stations across the country. Checking firearms in and out for an unlimited number of occasions faced no restrictions.

Gun ownership requirements will also be toughened.

Currently, the law disqualifies the possession of firearms for those diagnosed with alcohol or drug addiction, and for people younger than 20 and former criminals who have served prison sentences in the last three years.

As of January, 163,000 firearms were registered. Some 90,000 of them are air rifles, followed by 37,000 shoguns, with the rest being pistols.

Moreover, police officers will be equipped with body armor when dispatched to a crime scene. The move is in response to the death of a police chief shot dead during the shooting spree.