Access to Defensive Weapons to be Curbed

Kazakstan’s interior ministry wants to introduce licensing for weapons designed especially for self-defence, but some observers say bureaucracy and corruption are likely to make things difficult for people who really need to protect themselves.



Last week, the interior ministry sent the lower house of parliament a bill that would require barrel-less firearms to be licensed. These guns are pistols with no barrels that fire a non-lethal round, usually made of rubber. The ministry argues that the restriction is needed because most people acquiring such weapons do so in order to threaten the life and health of others, rather than to protect themselves.



Under current legislation, people are allowed to buy these “traumatising” weapons as well as flare guns and air rifles without being required to take out a permit. The new law would require them to register their weapons and also obtain a permit to store them.



Kazakhstan-based observers say that the permit system could place red tape in the way of people with a genuine need to defend themselves and leave them vulnerable to extortion by corrupt officials.



“We shouldn’t be making the system more bureaucratic,” said NBCentralAsia political scientist Eduard Poletaev. “We should instead impose age restrictions…. Prohibition won’t work. Whenever there is a move to impose bans of this kind, it’s simply a way for the security agencies to earn more money.”



Journalist Daur Dosybiev worries that the law enforcement agencies will not deal with the public in an above-board manner.



“A licensing system won’t stop a bandit or a killer, since criminals don’t need a permit to acquire a weapon,” he said. “But I fear law-abiding citizens will be faced with a new kind of extortion on the part of the officials who issue permits.”



An Almaty-based businessman who owns an Osa handgun, a non-lethal, barrel-less weapon, says it has often proved useful for self-defence.



“The interior ministry has counted up how many people have been casualties of these weapons,” he said. “But no one keeps a record of how many owners’ lives have been saved by them.”



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)