After the death of three-year-old Sashko Sobolev, the issue of allowing citizens to carry short-barreled weapons was on the agenda of Ukrainian society. The public and politicians are divided into two camps. Supporters of the legalization of weapons call it a guarantee of protection of human life in case of danger. Opponents believe that Ukrainians have not yet matured morally to such responsibility as a gun. And what does reserve colonel Sviatoslav Stetsenko think about this? This was asked by i-ua.tv.
– Do Ukrainians need weapons?
– Ukrainians are different.
– Absolutely.
– They are different in their worldview and values. Who needs weapons? Free people who are morally ready to defend themselves from criminals. But those who, in case of danger, a priori decided to fall to the ground, give away property, endure beatings and abuse, do not need weapons. They will not use it anyway. Weapons are needed for those who will fight back in case of physical violence or robbery. This is if we talk about individuals.
– And in general?
– A free society needs the right of citizens to own, carry and use short-barreled firearms to protect themselves and others from criminals. Even if such people are a minority, but they buy weapons and learn how to use them, it will significantly affect the reduction of crime in the streets and public places.
– Why?
– Many criminals will be aware that their victims may be armed and quite capable of fighting back. Of course, I do not take into account drug addicts and mentally ill people. They are not all right. They will not be stopped by the understanding that law-abiding people are armed. They simply do not control themselves. However, most criminals will not want to expose themselves to danger because of their own audacity.
World statistics also testifies in favor of allowing citizens to own short-barreled firearms. In particular, in European countries, street crime has significantly decreased. And this is an indisputable fact.
Nevertheless, many representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and affiliated arms dealers allow themselves to make statements about the alleged unpreparedness of Ukrainians. All this is manipulation and substitution of concepts. Such statements are chauvinistic statements. Their meaning is reduced to the recognition of Ukrainians as an inferior nation in comparison with the neighboring ones.
Moldova and the Baltic states, as well as Ukraine, were part of the USSR and have a similar heritage. Nothing bad happened in them after citizens were allowed to carry short-barreled weapons. On the contrary, the level of civil security has increased. Why should we expect disasters in Ukraine?
Talks that it is not the right time to arm citizens, because the country is at war, sound absolutely false. On the contrary, in the conditions of hostilities it is necessary to protect Ukrainians as much as possible. Let them have weapons and learn to use them. This way they can be ready to repel the enemy. After all, we know well that the armed forces, in case of large-scale aggression, will not be able to stop the Russians alone.
Perhaps the only way to survive for the citizens who do not want to spend their lives under the rule of Moscow is with weapons. Of course, a gun will not shoot down planes and destroy tank divisions of the Horde, but at least you can kill the occupiers and their collaborators. That is, any warnings about the unreadiness of Ukrainians from the Ministry of Internal Affairs are a distortion of real facts and statistics.
– Don’t you think that such statements are discrimination against Ukrainians? They were a free nation and had weapons from time immemorial. What is the period of the Cossacks worth?
– Yeah. This is not just discrimination, but actually xenophobia. People who allow themselves such words consider Ukrainians to be a mentally inferior ethnic group. And such statements should either be judged or expelled from the country. Who is not interested in Ukrainians being able to defend themselves with short-barreled weapons?
– Russia?
– And her too. But, first of all, organized crime and criminals. The worst thing is that they are in high offices. We see many examples and facts when certain officials turn out to be criminals or their agents. Unfortunately, it is beneficial for the Ukrainian authorities. By the way, it is Ukrainian only legally, but in fact it is anti-Ukrainian.
It really needs communities to be absolutely dependent on the state. And the protection of life is the highest need of any person, and it is completely usurped by the state. The authorities, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and, unfortunately, the current president want citizens to depend on their will and be defenseless. In this state, it is very easy to manipulate them and impose your will on them.