ERBIL, Iraq — The young coach tried to calm his players as they argued with the referee who had sent off three of their teammates during a soccer game in the city of Sulaimaniyah on Saturday evening. As the row grew, some fans intervened and in the confusion, one could be heard shouting at Dyar Bakr's players, “I am going to bring my gun and shoot you!” A few minutes later, the man appeared with an M-4 assault rifle in his hands, and as Bakr ran to stop him, a bullet pierced his chest and another hit his leg. He died later on a hospital bed.

Bakr is just one of the latest casualties in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, where an endless supply of firearms, booming local gun markets, inadequate regulations and worsening poverty due to an acute financial crisis mean firearms are being used on a massive scale to commit crimes and settle scores between citizens.

"The current level of gun violence is a threat to the stability of the Kurdistan Region," Ayub Ismail, the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) parliamentary committee on security, told Al-monitor. "The violence is damaging social cohesion, poses security risks to the KRG and undermines the rule of law."

During the Clasico game in late April, Barcelona fans in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region, celebrated their team's victory by firing anti-aircraft weapons and machine guns in the air. Twice earlier this month, traffic police in Erbil attempting to seize vehicles without proper documentation came under fire and one officer was abducted by armed men.