"Do you want a Ukrainian Trump?" What to do with millions of illegal firearms in circulation and what should the government be held accountable for?

In 2024, there were no changes in Ukraine regarding the issue of private gun ownership. The adoption of a law intended to partially regulate this matter remains in limbo. The initiative by law enforcement agencies for the declaration of firearms possessed by civilians during the war has also proven to be ineffective.

Regarding the prospects for legislative changes, "Telegraph" spoke with the head of the Ukrainian Association of Gun Owners, Georgiy Uchaykin.

To Prevent Arms Trafficking to Europe

- In August of last year, the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada voted for legislative changes ( Bill No. 9538 ), allowing civilians to use found firearms and ammunition to repel Russian aggression. Based on this, an order was issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs regulating the declaration process, and a campaign was launched, but according to media reports, it was not very successful. What do you think is the reason?

- Let's clarify the terminology, as it was mistakenly referred to as trophy weapons in the context of this bill, but it has nothing to do with it. A trophy is obtained in battle. We are talking solely about firearms found by civilians, meaning unregistered ones, and there are indeed many. There was a temporary law "On Ensuring the Participation of Civilians in the Defense of Ukraine," which appeared after the chaotic distribution of weapons from trucks in March 2022. In August 2024, amendments were made to it, requiring citizens to declare such received or found weapons and ammunition. It was specified that there would be a 90-day timeframe after the end of the war to surrender them to the state. And possibly, if a law is passed later, you might be allowed to keep some of this weaponry after going through the appropriate procedure.

This is a blatant legal and logical nonsense because no one will willingly give up a tool that can save their life in these turbulent times. In my opinion, this initiative was doomed from the start. We understand why they chose this path. They are not satisfied with the adoption of a full-fledged gun law because then they would lose their monopoly, so they began to create some unknown structure with "makeshift" supports. It is indeed unknown because no country in the world has such a practice. The established practice is for the state to buy back weapons from people.

– But there is an argument against such an option: the state likely does not have, and probably will not have, enough funds for this, especially during wartime.

– I don't want to go too far, but I'll say that they manage to lay cobblestones and siphon money from the budget as well. Let's return to the so-called declaration. I participated in a national conference held under the auspices of the OSCE in Kyiv in December last year. I spoke with various specialists, including international partners. They are only interested in one thing: to prevent arms trafficking from Ukraine to the European Union. In reality, this does not exist, except for isolated cases. But instead, there is a crazy, sky-high internal "black" market.

So, in the first month of the campaign, Ukrainians declared only 2,000 units of weapons, of which at best 10% were military. The rest were old hunting rifles and similar items, which are of no interest to anyone. In the second month, only 780 were declared. This data was disclosed in an interview by the head of the National Police of Ukraine, Ivan Vygovsky. These numbers seem amusing against the backdrop of millions of unregistered firearms. It will take hundreds of years to resolve the issue this way. Moreover, I am well aware that there was a directive for each unit of the permitting system, and to ensure performance metrics, they were "shaking down" everyone. But no one brought in automatic weapons or pistols.

- What could have worked? Punishment? Or is it only financial incentives?

- You cannot scare Ukrainians, who live under the constant threat of shelling, with responsibility. The solution to the problem lies in a comprehensive approach. The usual practice is as follows: the population is offered to sell unregistered weapons and, importantly (!) – explosives to the state. With the latter, it is all straightforward and clear. You bring, for example, a grenade – you get, say, 500 hryvnias (tariffs should be set by the Cabinet), and they do not ask where you got it. The main thing is that the device did not explode and was removed from circulation. The same applies to firearms. Currently, it looks like this: you have an automatic weapon, and you are told to bring it, declare it, and then hand it over, but you think, it’s better to keep it just in case. But if they offered to buy it for 12 thousand hryvnias – that would be interesting. But it becomes interesting only when you know that there is a law and you can sell an unnecessary automatic weapon, receive money, and buy a small pistol for self-defense. So everything should work in a comprehensive manner.

Now let's see if there is money available. Initially, they dragged out these changes to the bill, developing and coordinating them, which means wasting the deputies' working time. We are well aware of the cost of that. I’m not even mentioning the technical expenses for printing piles of paper and so on. Next, the Ministry of Internal Affairs ordered advertising on all media – video, audio, billboards. Statements were coming from every corner that the declaration would work. Did that happen? Yes. Additionally, SMS were sent to subscribers of all mobile operators multiple times. The cost of each message is about 1 hryvnia. And all of this had no effect. If any economists had the desire to calculate the effectiveness coefficient of all these steps, I think they would conclude that it would be simpler to buy back the weapons.

First and foremost, a proper gun law should be enacted instead of the castrated one being proposed, and then the punishment provided by the Criminal Code of Ukraine would be something substantial. Because we could tell citizens: all conditions have been created for you, money has been offered for unregistered weapons, which you can officially use under state supervision to purchase everything necessary for protection, and if you failed to do so, you will be held accountable. This is all a complex process.

Has Society Already Spoken Out, and Were They Heard?

- When you speak of a proper gun law, you obviously mean not the bill No. 5708 "On the Right to Civil Firearms," which seems to be stalled due to the Ministry of Internal Affairs' position. At least, that’s the explanation given by the deputies.

– This document has a long history; it emerged from Bill "On Weapons" No. 1222, which was developed by specialists and legal advisors from the Ukrainian Association of Gun Owners several years ago. In fact, this is the third interpretation of our bill, which has already been diluted to an impossible state and still will not function. This is unequivocally clear. Moreover, who is our legislative body, and who is the executive authority?! If deputies cannot ensure the conduct of public hearings, substantive parliamentary discussions, or talk to specialists, then perhaps they need to work in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs should go to the Rada and pass laws?!

Why is the law enforcement agency stubborn? Because they cling to their monopoly on short-barreled firearms and do not want to lose it. There are several directions behind it from which they earn. Firstly, there is the market for armed security services, which amounts to approximately 800 million to 1 billion dollars per year in Ukraine. So they know what they are fighting for. I understand this, but friends, you have a catastrophe with "black" weapons, there is a scandal in the center of Kyiv involving youth with weapons. Yet they claim that if this law is passed, everyone will get drunk and shoot each other. Thus, we see that the initiatives already proposed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding the declaration of weapons do not work, and nothing will change after the adoption of Bill No. 5708 in its current form. And the money for all this facade is being spent.

– What should be done? Throw out this bill? Return to the original version? Write a new one? Whose political will should this be? The deputies? The President? Should society become more active?

– Society has already expressed its opinion on this matter. In 2022, a survey was conducted in "Diya," and 58.75% of respondents supported the free ownership of firearms for personal protection. In the language of specialists, this is called an absolute majority. I don't know whose political will should be involved because I don't quite understand that term. There are citizens, co-owners of this country, and they are saying how it should be. But their opinions are not heard by politicians and officials, which is a complete disrespect and total distrust towards citizens, and it will not end well. We must understand that all of this is part