In a nation ravaged by conflict with Russia, a mass shooting in Ukraine’s capital at the weekend has reignited a debate about relaxing laws on the right to bear handguns for self-protection.

In the hours following a gunman’s siege of a supermarket in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Saturday, which left seven people ​dead, many Ukrainians took to social networks to call for a greater right to carry handguns for self-defence. Others denounced the proposal, with alarm.

“If those who met the terrorist today ‌ had weapons, there would have been fewer victims,” said Maksym Zhorin, the Deputy Commander of the 3rd Army Corps, in a Telegram message. 

“Making it legal to own handguns is the only logical thing to do after this tragedy.”

In Ukraine, civilians are prohibited from carrying guns, and there is no dedicated legislation on self-defence with weapons.

But following the Russian invasion in 2022, civilians formed an orderly line, and the military and police issued firearms to help defend against the invaders, with an instruction that they must be returned at the end of the conflict.

DRAFT LAW IS IN THE WORKS

Ihor Fris, an author of a bill on the circulation of firearms by civilians that was passed in the first reading in 2022, says that while criminals can get firearms, Ukraine’s civilians have no way to defend themselves.

Fris, a member of the governing Servant of the People party, told Reuters that politicians, the interior ministry and specialists will soon discuss preparing a second reading of the draft.

“I believe that today we could allow Ukrainians to own short-barrelled firearms – weapons for self-defence at home,” he said, saying the law could be in force in a year after its adoption.

Facing criticism over the police’s handling ​of the shooting, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko has called for the measure: “I think that people should have the right to armed self-defence,” Klymenko said.

Although Ukrainians have traditionally not supported arms liberalisation, opens new tab, there has been a change in attitudes during the ​war. The biggest survey ever conducted by the state in mid-2022 found 59% of Ukrainians were in favour of the right to carry a handgun in public, while 22% were strongly against.

More than 1.7 million people responded to the poll, with 19% claiming to be for gun rights but against carrying firearms in public. 

UKRAINE HAS FEW GUN RAMPAGES

“In fact, I am strongly against the use of guns by people,” said Daryna, a 31-year-old woman from Holosiivskyi district, where the attack occurred. “Because we see what’s happening in ​the U.S., firearms are allowed there, and there are many more such situations there.”

In the most recent shooting rampage in the U.S., a man shot dead seven of his children and an eighth minor, his ex-partner, in a domestic dispute on Sunday in the state of Louisiana, before he was fatally shot by police in a car chase.

In contrast to the U.S., mass shootings are very rare in Ukraine. In 2021, the interior ministry reported 273 cases of violence with firearms, explosives and accidents involving explosives. By ‌2023, the figure ⁠had risen to over 11,000.

Critics of gun liberalisation argue it is not clear how possessing guns will stop more people from dying in shootings.

“I see many arguments in favour from people who have never been in a situation where they had to decide whether to use one, let alone actually use one and understand the consequences,” Roman Kostenko, a member of the parliamentary defence and security committee of the Holos party, said.

Kostenko, a veteran of the battlefront, said there is a lack of awareness of how Ukraine’s legal system is not geared to decide cases involving the use of guns.

Critics argue that making guns more accessible will provide them to people with criminal intent.

The​ Kyiv shooter had a registered weapon.

“This man has been given a ​weapon by the system. Why do we think that, in the future, only the good ones will have guns to protect us from the bad ones?” Holos lawmaker Inna Sovsun said.

Fris says a very controlled system of background checks for gun permit applications and gun schools – similar to driving schools – would reduce the risks.

It would take at least a year to establish such a system, he said, but it is even more important to change Ukraine’s criminal code to regulate the rights and duties of self-defence.

Many people are concerned about the potential consequences of putting handguns into a society with such an overwhelming level of trauma caused by the war, including post-traumatic stress disorder.

But advocates say guns are already in widespread circulation, given the state’s distribution of arms in the early phases of the war and millions of guns used against Russia.

Ukrainians could have up to 7 million unregistered small arms, according to the president of the Ukrainian Gun Owners’ Association, Heorhiy Uchaykin. The Ukrainian interior ministry did not provide the number of gun owners to Reuters.

MILLIONS OF GUNS ​IN CIRCULATION

“If my constitution gives me the right to protect my own life, I need the means to do it,” said Uchaykin, a proponent of people being able to carry handguns who has campaigned for the right to do so for decades.

He accused local police of not protecting people in Saturday’s attack. Footage showed some police fleeing the scene, leading to the resignation of a police chief and criminal charges.

But many MPs are wary of any deregulation of guns, and caution against quick reforms.

“We shouldn’t legalise guns on the basis of emotions after a tragedy,” said ruling party lawmaker Olha Vasylevska-Smahliuk.