Dear Andrii Volodymyrovych!
Information is circulating on the Internet that you allegedly expressed a desire to increase responsibility for the storage of weapons. This statement is cited by some media as a quote from your speech:
“I believe that we should prepare a joint bill on increasing responsibility for the fact that people keep weapons, including grenades.”
“And I think that this joint bill should be adopted so that the level of responsibility is so high that we can stop this trend that exists in the country.”
The Ukrainian Association of Gun Owners is forced to draw your attention and the attention of your fellow deputies to the fact that without the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of a law that would restrict the civilian turnover of weapons and determine the legal regime of ownership of such objects of civil rights, it is impossible in principle to talk about any responsibility for the storage of weapons, because now such behavior of Ukrainian citizens is lawful, and lawful behavior cannot entail any responsibility.
We are forced to remind you that you are a co-author of the draft law № 1135-1 “On civilian weapons and ammunition“, and that this particular bill aims to legislatively regulate the circulation of weapons in Ukraine, to define the responsibilities of owners of weapons and in general – to define the legal regime of such property as weapons, determining also that firearms are an object of civil rights, limited in civil circulation, that is, its circulation is possible only with the permission of the authorized body.
We are also compelled to inform that the current trend in the country is a direct consequence of the inaction of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which is the only body of state power that has the authority to determine a special (permissive) procedure for the circulation of weapons in Ukraine, and also illustrates the fact that citizens of Ukraine do not rely on state institutions to protect their rights, because very often the rights of citizens are violated by state institutions. In particular, in Ukraine since 2007, unreasonably and arbitrarily, for actually lawful behavior, was brought to criminal responsibility under Art. 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine more than 52000 people.
Therefore, the Ukrainian Gun Owners Association hopes that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, in order to mitigate the negative consequences that may occur due to the accumulation of unaccounted weapons by the population, will first adopt a law that would define firearms as an object of civil rights, the civil turnover of which is possible only with the permission of the authorized body, radically change the approach to the issuance of permits to carry and store weapons (leaving the Ministry of Internal Affairs only the function of controlling the circulation of weapons and depriving this body of the right to issue permits to carry and store weapons) and allow owners of unregistered weapons to register them without sanctions and obtain the appropriate permit to carry and store them, or – appropriate compensation for the cost of such weapons in case of citizens’ disinterest in obtaining a permit to carry and store them.
Only after the issue of weapons circulation is regulated by the law, as required by Article 92 of the Constitution of Ukraine and Article 178 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, we can talk about any responsibility for its storage, which is carried out without observing the procedure established by law.
Sincerely, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the NGO “Ukrainian Gun Owners Association”
Georgy Uchaykin
