FSB and Ministry of Internal Affairs : A bill has been submitted to the State Duma, according to which everyone who wants to buy weapons from the Russians will first be checked by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB – the Russian Guard will have the right to refuse to issue a license to those who have not passed the law enforcement filter. All those “involved in extremist organizations” will be deliberately deprived of the right to arms.
The bill was introduced by a group of United Russia deputies, including the heads of two Duma Committees: on Security and Anti-Corruption (Vasily Piskarev) and on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications (Alexander Khinshtein). It is proposed to supplement the procedure for issuing by Rosgvardia a license (permit) for the acquisition, carrying, storage, transportation or use of weapons and include in it a mandatory preliminary check of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and (or) the FSB.
If such a check reveals that a Russian who wants to have a weapon is involved in an organized criminal group, group or organization, including an extremist or terrorist one, or intends, according to the information of the inspectors, to use the weapon for illegal purposes, the National Guard will refuse a license.
The procedure for preparing a conclusion on refusal will then be prepared by the government. Those who have already received a license may also lose their right to a weapon – it will be revoked or not renewed if the check shows dangerous “involvement” or “intentions” of the owner of the weapon.
Law enforcement officers will give their recommendations to the National Guard, including on the basis of the operational information they have. Whom they will consider to be involved in the activities of this or that extremist organization is still difficult to say.
An exception will be made from the general rule: representatives of small indigenous peoples living in places of their traditional residence (in Chukotka, the Far East, the Far North), for whom hunting is the main occupation, will not pass checks. And also the employees of the paramilitary organizations – because they are being checked anyway.
One of the authors, Mr. Khinshtein, clarified at a press conference on December 24 that the term of the ban on issuing a license will be valid for a year, and then you can try again to apply. In addition, the imposed ban is allowed to be appealed, and the prosecutor’s office will also have the right to check the decisions of the Rosgvardia within the framework of supervision.
The deputy recalled that what the bill proposes is not an innovation; employees of private security organizations and private detectives have long gone through this kind of checks if they want to get the right to a weapon. The explanatory note to the bill provides the following statistics: according to the National Guard, over the past 5 years, on the basis of such checks, 274 private security guards and private detectives have been denied the right to arms, 12 decisions from this number were subsequently canceled as illegal.
Khinshtein believes that this bill is “another consistent step towards restoring order in the arms market.” According to him, the situation with the circulation of weapons “continues to remain extremely acute”, every now and then there are “emergencies, crimes with the use of weapons, leading to the death of people, and, which is especially tragic, minors.”
Over the past year, the deputy recalled, four laws have already been adopted, which establish additional requirements and introduce new restrictions in the field of civilian circulation of weapons. This is an increase in the age, which gives the right to acquire most types of weapons, up to 21 years, and an expansion of the list of categories of previously convicted citizens who will not be issued a license in any case, and the introduction of a new basis for refusing to obtain weapons – according to medical indications.
But work in this direction will continue, Khinshtein assured: “Weapons are a technical device of increased danger, created to defeat manpower, and its uncontrolled circulation directly threatens the life and health of citizens,” he said.
The State Duma will deal with the introduced bill after the New Year. And it will come into force only a year after its adoption and official publication.
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