Sweden Democrats disciplined MP for opposing gun restrictions after school shooting

Sweden’s far-right Sweden Democrats (SD) removed a senior party member from a parliamentary committee after he publicly opposed the party’s support for stricter gun laws following a deadly school shooting, Swedish public broadcaster SVT reports.

Tobias Andersson, then chair of the business committee, broke ranks with SD leadership in 2025 after the party backed a ban on semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15 rifle—a proposal put forward in response to the mass shooting at Risbergska school in Örebro. Party leader Jimmie Åkesson had argued such weapons were “incomprehensible” to allow, but Andersson defended the existing policy.

“I rarely do this. It was a big decision to take what was seen as open conflict,” Andersson told SVT’s interview program Taxi Fouad. “But I stood by the line we had always pushed.”

Andersson confirmed he lost his alternate seat on the Riksdag’s governing board as a direct result of his stance. “I wouldn’t call it punishment, but it was a consequence of my actions,” he said.

The internal dispute also saw Richard Jomshof, then chair of the justice committee, resign in protest over the party’s shift on gun policy.