What Are the Gun Laws in Ukraine
The problem with Ukraine in this regard is restrictions on the possession and carrying of weapons that have not been supplied or authorized by the government. Compare that to what the founders of this country wanted to build on, the laws of various colonies such as Plymouth, Virginia, Maryland and others that require citizens to be armed when they are not at home or church. A typical example of jurist Stephen P. Halbrook`s The Right to Bear Arms: “A Rhode Island law of 1639 commanded that no man could go two miles from the city without a weapon, whether with a rifle or a sword; and let no one come to a public meeting without his weapon. It will be argued that Ukrainian volunteers are not professional soldiers, and while this is true, also remember that a standing army was not something the founders considered detrimental to freedom (hence the ongoing assignment process, which is firmly enshrined in the constitution). One of the founders who recognized the inequality of skills was Alexander Hamilton, who admitted it in Federalist No. 29, including how painful it would be to impose the discipline necessary on people to maintain farms and operate trades. Since this article was published online, Russia has declared war on Ukraine and attacked. Soon after, President Zelensky promised that every citizen who wanted to have a weapon would have one, and more than 25,000 AK, RPK, etc. rifles were distributed in Kiev. The problem, however, is that Ukrainians only receive a weapon if they register as members of the Territorial Defense Forces. Each member must present a passport and/or other identification and the weapon is registered in their name, but they are considered part of the military – there has been no expansion in gun ownership, except for a relaxation of gun transportation laws in February. In addition, Firearms News has contacts within the Ukrainian government and the military, and there are no reports of widespread distribution of the huge quantities of surplus firearms stored in warehouses to most of the population in other parts of Ukraine.
This is worrisome because territorial defence is now reporting a shortage of weapons. Until then, there were no emergency changes to relax Ukraine`s gun laws regarding private property. On April 24, Uchaykin remarked via the OGOA website: “Ukrainians have seen what it is like to remain unarmed under the enemy.” In fact. The number of rapes and executions perpetrated by invading Russian soldiers is absolutely staggering. In February, just a week before the invasion, when the US government warned of an invasion of Russia, Zelensky denied the reports, and instead of arming Ukrainians to defend their lives with weapons and military weapons, he held marches with flags and banners. Due to the fact that Zelensky criticized ordinary citizens` adherence to territorial defense and his opposition to a relaxation of gun laws in 2021, Firearms News asked a question in the article in which he urged Zelensky to “open up gun ownership”: “Will this Russian invasion become a second holodomor [when Stalin and the Russians murdered between 7 and 12 million Ukrainians], Not because of the lack of food, but because of the lack of firearms in the possession of civilians? Let`s hope not. But if that`s the case, Zelensky would be a guy to point fingers at. True, millions of Ukrainians have not been killed to date, but several thousand have been executed and placed in mass graves. Countless deaths could have been avoided if Ukrainian citizens had been armed, as are citizens of the United States. “Many of these countries have communist-era laws, when gun ownership was generally prohibited,” Lott said. In Ukraine, less than 2% legally owned a weapon until the invasion, and then 18,000 fully automatic rifles were distributed in one day. That`s still a fraction of the population of 41 million and small compared to the size of the Russian military, but it can move other countries before everything hits the fan. Disarming volunteer citizen soldiers (especially when a war is in full swing) is a good indicator that when the situation in Ukraine “normalizes,” the plan is to return to restrictive gun laws.
Firearms News was denounced before the Russian invasion, when it urged President Zelensky to “open ownership of Ukrainian weapons” (see FirearmsNews.com/editorial/president-zelenskyy-ukrainian-gun-ownership/458322). Part of the reason why he may have become America`s darling. is left-wing because, before full-fledged hostilities began, he was on “the same side as anti-gun owners Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and others” in terms of expanding gun rights, as noted in the February article. That is, the deterrent effect of a constantly armed and educated population has completely escaped them and seems to escape the Ukrainian elites who, instead of capitalizing on what they have started and letting it develop into a safe society that no one of their sane mind would penetrate, seem determined to return to their old ways. Ukraine has long had a delicate relationship with weapons. Throughout its post-Soviet history, it has been the only country in Europe without legislation on civilian possession of firearms. More than a dozen laws have been proposed, but none have been passed by parliament. Instead, Ukrainian gun ownership is regulated by regulations monitored by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Officially, the only legal way to own a gun in Ukraine today is to buy a rifle for hunting or sporting purposes. Handguns are prohibited and are accessible only to security forces and certain categories of government officials. The good thing is that Ukrainians can own almost all modern sporting rifles (MSRs), which are military-style semi-automatic rifles. The only functional limitations are that if the rifle comes with a folding stock, it cannot fire with a folded stock (a type of mirror handgun is prohibited), and if the rifle is a pistol caliber rifle (PCC), it cannot fire 9mm regular, which is 9x19mm, so these are chambered in 9x21mm, which is almost identical ballistically (Italy has a similar law). There are also no restrictions on the capacity of the magazines. That`s the good news, because if you want to fight for your country, an MSR with “high capacity” magazines would be exactly what you want. Ukrainians can also own any rifle up to and including .50BMG and any rifle in a sniper configuration. In terms of RSM, Ukrainians have more gun freedoms than citizens of California, Massachusetts and New York, given the capacity of magazines, they have more freedom than at least 10 states. Ukrainians have access to AR-15 rifles from dozens of U.S. manufacturers, as well as a Ukrainian company called Zbroyar, which makes AR-15 and AR-10 semi-automatic rifles and bolt-action actions. Ukrainians can also buy semi-automatic AK rifles made by the Ukrainian defense company Fort, as well as MSRs such as AUGs, HK93 rifles, HK94 rifles, Kriss rifles, KelTec rifles, tavors and many others.
The typical cost of a Chinese copy of the M4 is around $950, and American-made M4 rifles start at around $1,200. A Fort AK costs about $850. An SKS costs about $450. Ukrainians can also buy silencers and have more freedom in this area than Americans. Night vision and thermal riflescopes are also legal. Putin delivered his genocidal speech this week, declaring that Ukraine has no reason to exist and that he is at least taking back the parts of Ukraine that the Soviets had (funny as he only looks at history as far as he wants).