WATCH: Aljosa Milenkovic reports on the amnesty from Belgrade

A deadline for gun owners to hand over their illegal weapons in Serbia was originally scheduled to expire on Thursday, June 8. But in a last-minute decision, the interior minister, Bratislav Gašić decided to extend the deadline until the end of June. 

The move was motivated by the huge and positive response from the public. People surrendered over 100,000 pieces during the past month, including explosives, handgrenades and anti-tank mines.

The country's government issued the call a month ago after two deadly mass shootings rocked Serbia in May. A 13-year-old boy gunned down nine students and a security guard at a Belgrade school on May 3. Just a day later, a 21-year-old man opened fire in a drive-by attack that killed eight in the town of Mladenovac. 

At an undisclosed location near the town of Smederevo, Serbian police are gathering all the illegal weapons that have been voluntarily handed over in the past month throughout the country. An amazing cache, including a wide variety of deadly firearms, is in the big hangar under the watchful eye of the police.

From machine guns to World War II relics and rare collector pieces, everything was there, including a 1930s Luger with a picture of Lenin on one side and Tito on the other side of the handgrip.

There are almost 70,000 items at this location. The officials say that around three quarters of a million legally owned weapons are in Serbia. 

Yet, most of those are in the possession of sports clubs, shooting ranges, and private security companies. The number of illegal weapons is hard to know.

After the two deadly mass shootings, people in Belgrade are protesting against gun violence every weekend. They demand a safer environment but also political changes in the country. The government vows to implement strict measures against those who have not surrendered their illegal weapons by Thursday.

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"We won't show any remorse and will implement legal sanctions for all of those who own or are found with the illegal weapons during any actions of the Ministry of Interior Affairs," Serbian Interior Minister Bratislav Gašić told CGTN Europe. "The prescribed punishments for those would range from 8 to 15 years in prison."

The gun culture is deeply rooted in Serbian tradition, as we were told at one of Belgrade's famous shooting ranges. But people there support the government's crackdown on illegal gun owners.

"To own a gun, just for the sake of owning it, or because of our tradition and culture is wrong. Particularly mines, explosives, and automatic weapons. It is absolutely wrong to own any of that," Ljubiša Životić, a shooting instructor from Shooting Club 'Target' said.

But they say that those who legally own guns are rarely the source of gun violence, as most of it is committed with illegally acquired firearms.

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