Eighty-eight shots were fired during a shooting incident in Tainan in November. The case remains unsolved. Between last year and October 2022, there were over 170 shooting incidents.
In October, a shooting incident motivated by a dispute occurred in Taipei's Wanhua District, leaving one person dead and four others injured. In November, 88 shots were fired during a shooting incident in Tainan. The case remains unsolved one month later. KMT legislators say the reason why the Tainan shooting occurred is due to organized crime and the photoelectric sensor industry.
Yu Yu-lan, Legislator (KMT): “It's because the ruling party allows organized crime to manipulate electoral results. This is the reason for the proliferation of illegal guns in Taiwan today.”
Chen I-hsin, Legislator (KMT): “If you want to buy a gun, all you have to do is take out your phone and google it. If you really want to buy one, there are places where you can buy one. If you want to learn how to use it, there are places that can teach you.”
Taiwan has seen a string of shooting incidents. There have been over 170 between last year and October this year. The KMT said there are so many guns in Taiwan, yet the number of police investigations into illegal arms started decreasing in 2019. It asked whether the number of illegal guns is decreasing or the police are ineffective.
Chiu Shao-chou, Deputy Commissioner, Criminal Investigation Bureau: “Amendments to the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act stiffened penalties and also had a deterrent effect. That's why these numbers on our crackdowns show a downward trend.”
The issue of whether the police can open fire when facing off against criminals has always been a thorny issue. After amendments to the Act Governing the Use of Police Weapons were passed in September, the Criminal Investigation Bureau proposed establishing an investigatory task force on the use of police equipment comprising 13 to 17 experts and scholars from various fields including law, psychology, and police governance that have been approved by the interior minister. The task force would be responsible for writing reports for judicial authorities to reference.
Kuang Ching-tai, Director, Legal Affairs Division, CIB: “From past experience, we can see that cases where police equipment was used were frequently subject to judicial investigations. There is the so-called hindsight bias. Having and establishing a fair, impartial, and specialized investigatory mechanism is the only way to recreate the circumstances faced by our colleagues in the line of duty.”
A draft bill has already been sent to the Ministry of the Interior for consideration. Once the task force is operational, it will investigate any controversial incident involving serious injuries or death caused by a police firearm and consider the circumstances and legality to determine whether the use of force was warranted.
回到槍案現場，警方臨檢盤查，就怕台北西門町治安又出包，畢竟今年10月幫派才因爲利益糾紛，引發萬華槍擊案，釀成1死4傷，震驚社會。現在台南又發生88槍重大刑案，近一個月過去未偵破，國民黨立委抨擊，學甲槍擊案會引爆，就是牽涉黑道及光電利益。
國民黨立委游毓蘭說道：「現在的執政黨容許這種黑金共治，都是奠定了今天台灣黑槍氾濫。」
國民黨立委陳以信提及：「你現在如果想要買槍，你只要在手機拿出來網路上面google，真的是要買，就有地方買，要學，就有地方教。」
不只黑道問題要解決，只見國內槍聲連連，去年到今年10月，已經發生超過170起槍擊案，藍營也質疑，台灣槍枝氾濫，反觀警方查緝黑槍，從2019年開始逐年減少，立委不經疑惑，到底是黑槍變少，還是查緝不力。
刑事局副局長邱紹洲表示：「《槍砲彈藥管制條例》的修法，是刑度有增加，也是有嚇阻的效果，所以大家看到這個數據。我們取締的件數，是有下降的趨勢。」
面對黑槍氾濫，尤其在警匪對峙場面，警方執勤安全刻不容緩，但員警該不該開槍？過往成了棘手難題。不過在今年9月，《警械使用條例》修法通過後，刑事局也提出草案，研擬成立警械使用調查小組，從各領域遴選出專家學者，分別具有法律、心理和警政等背景，總共13到17人，由內政部長核定，團隊將會製作調查報告，讓司法機關參考。
刑事局司法科科長鄺慶泰指出：「我們從過去的經驗來看，使用警械的案件，往往在接受司法偵審的時候，有所謂事後諸葛這樣的現象，能夠有一個，成立一個公正、客觀、專業的調查機制，才能夠讓我們同仁，在現場執勤發生的情況能夠重現。」
相關草案已經送內政部審議，在正式實施後，只要員警使用槍械，造成死亡、重傷等等案件，引發爭議，這小組就會對使用時機、過程，是否合理合法，來進行調查。
