Moscow - The overwhelming majority of Russians (82%) object to arms trade liberalization. They think that unlimited access to weapons may increase the crime rate.
Only 13% support free selling of weapons and 5% do not know, the Public Opinion Foundation said in comment on a poll held in 100 towns and cities in 43 regions on November 17-18.
Seventy-eight percent of 1,500 respondents said they would not buy weapons even if Russia permitted free selling of armaments to law-abiding and mentally healthy adults. Sixteen percent argued they would not miss that chance.
Some 17% of the respondents believe that guns would be bought by bandits wishing “to use them in their criminal business,” 13% think that would be done by people “fearing for their lives and lives of their families,” 13% say guns will be bought by “oligarchs and well-to-do people,” and 8% say guns will be bought “by anyone wishing to do so.”
Seven percent think guns may be obtained by mentally unstable people, 5% believe that teenagers may get guns, and another 5% say “violent and aggressive people” may get hold of weapons.
Forty-seven percent of the respondents said that many people in their home region would buy guns. Thirty-one percent could not give an answer, and 21% said their families and friends did not need guns.
Only 5% of Russians expect free selling of guns to cut the crime rate in the country, and 79% claim the opposite.
Federation Council First Vice-Speaker Alexander Torshin made a legislative initiative to legalize handguns in late July. He suggested that the weapons could be used for self-defense without criminal penalty.
Current laws rule out storing of combat weapons by civilians.
