Traumatic weapons used throughout the world for self-defense have turned into a murder weapon in Russia.
Does Russia need a law allowing citizens to carry serious firearms? The answer is paradoxical: the traumatic weapons in the hands of the Russians are already actually combat weapons. And if we talk about the new law, then about the one that will tighten the circulation of "traumatics" as much as possible. The fact remains: traumatic weapons used throughout the world for self-defense have turned into a murder weapon in Russia.
Today, the citizens of Russia are in possession of 5 million 800 thousand units of service and civilian weapons, including traumatic ones. The latter accounts for 3.5 million trunks - 60 percent. In Moscow, the proportion is about the same. In the capital, out of half a million barrels, more than 200 thousand are "traumatic". That is, every fortieth inhabitant of the Mother See has a traumatic weapon in his pocket. And this is only according to official data. Unofficially, every tenth citizen, including the elderly and children, owns it. According to Nikolai Boev, head of the department for organizing licensing and permitting work and control over private detective and security activities of the city police department of the capital, sales of smooth-bore, rifled and self-defense weapons increased in 2009 in Moscow by almost 7 percent. If you are not intimidated by these numbers, it only proves that you have too strong nerves. Because every month in Moscow from 30 to 50 cases of the use of traumatic weapons are officially registered. And how many more do not get into the police reports! According to experts, in only three percent of cases, self-defense weapons are used for their intended purpose, that is, to ensure the safety of the owner. In all other cases, it is used for illegal purposes. These are the shocking statistics …
Trauma at the cost of life
What are traumatic weapons? According to the principle of action, the "traumatic" is absolutely identical to the combat one, with the only difference that it has a much lower shot power (for the combat muzzle energy reaches 600-700 J, for the traumatic one - 85 J). And not lead, but rubber bullets are used as ammunition. Such weapons are considered non-lethal, designed to protect their owner from criminal encroachments. That is, to suppress the aggression of the attacker, leaving him alive and not seriously crippling him. In practice, it often turns out differently. "Injuries from traumatic weapons can be very dangerous," says Boris Yegorov, a traumatologist at one of the city hospitals. "During my daily watch, 3-4 people sometimes get to our hospital with gunshot wounds caused by traumatic weapons."
They suffer from traumatic weapons mainly in the summer. In winter, thick clothes still serve as some kind of protection. However, you need to know our people. When using weapons, they aim exclusively at the head, groin or chest in the region of the heart. That is, exactly where to shoot from a traumatic pistol is strictly prohibited by the instructions for its use. But who stops it! In addition, they shoot, as a rule, point-blank. In informal conversations, doctors say that so-called commercial calls from elite suburban settlements have become more frequent lately. Inhabitants of cottages and villas try to avoid publicity and proceedings with the police. This means that medical assistance is provided to them privately, without filling out the forms that are required in case of such appeals. Husbands and wives, mother-in-law at sons-in-law are shooting at each other. And once a medical team went to a duel in the Rublevka area.
In terms of severity, traumatic wounds are, of course, less severe than gunshot wounds, but they can also lead to death. For example, a large-caliber bullet with a diameter of 15.3 millimeters and weighing about 12 grams, fired from the Wasp pistol, has a metal core in a rubber sheath. She can easily break ribs, and painful shock can lead to cardiac arrest. Such cases are not isolated in the practice of physicians.
"It is especially dangerous to get into the eye and periobital areas," continues Boris Yegorov. "In these cases, injuries usually lead to loss of vision. Wounds to the bridge of the nose and temporal region are extremely dangerous. A bullet impact can lead to splitting thin bones and getting them inside. If a bullet hits a large blood vessel, such as the femoral artery, it can also be fatal. People, instinctively covering themselves with their hands from a shot, are wounded by the hand, where there are many small bones, which are difficult to restore, and injuries often lead to dysfunction of the hand."
Arms race
The beginning of the mass arming of the population was laid in the 90s, when gas weapons poured into the country in a huge stream. By the mid-90s, Moscow had "gorged" its fill with gas weapons. It was then that the debate began about the need to adopt a new law "On Weapons". They say that this law was lobbied by several State Duma deputies. On the sidelines, it was rumored that the interest of the people's representatives was due to their close friendship with weapons manufacturers. By this time, the warehouses of most arms factories were littered with illiquid assets - combat makarovs and TTs and revolvers left over from the war. Someone had an idea to turn this scrap metal into real money through simple technological operations. Be that as it may, but by the end of 1996 a new law "On weapons" was adopted, where in Article 3 "Civilian weapons" a rather mysterious term appeared: "firearms without a barrel of domestic production with cartridges of traumatic action." What was meant, it became clear only in 1999, when the first-born in the form of a barrelless pistol PB-4 Osa appeared on the traumatic market. The production and sale of such toys promised considerable profits, since the cost of "traumatics", according to experts, is ten times lagging behind their market price.
“The real boom in traumatic weapons began in 2004,” says Dmitry Knyazev, senior salesman in the traumatic department of the Kolchuga store. - It was then that the beloved "Makarych" appeared on the market. At that time, from a pistol-shaped self-defense weapon, this was the only barrel that almost completely copied the combat makarov. Naturally, our citizens could not pass against such a toy and swept it off the shelves. In fact, you legally had an almost complete analogue of a combat barrel in a holster.
Death for $ 150
With a license, you can go out and buy a barrel from a store perfectly legal. But there is one serious problem - the desire of our citizens to "tune" everything, regardless of the law. Today in the market of traumatic weapons there is a whole network of underground Lefties, which easily increase the power of "injuries", and at the request of the client can easily turn a traumatic pistol into a combat one. The correspondent of Itogi, on condition of anonymity, met with one of the most famous folk craftsmen who works in Podolsk. Out of his 52 years, Uncle Sasha served twelve in prison, was convicted three times, and all the articles were for illegal possession of weapons and ammunition. As he himself says, he was sitting at the "shovel" - this is how the trunks obtained by black trackers on the battlefields are called in the slang of the shadow market. Returning home from the zone once again, Uncle Sasha realized that it is much more efficient and safer to use his talent as a gunsmith, modifying the "trauma".
Hidden from prying eyes behind a high green fence, the workshop is located on the outskirts of a solid brick house on the outskirts of Podolsk. Uncle Sasha opens the door and flips a switch on the wall. On the massive bed of the workbench, two small machines, a lathe and a milling machine, shine. “Look,” the master takes out a Makarych traumatic pistol from the table. With some elusive movements, the gunsmith instantly disassembled the pistol into its component parts. Over time, Uncle Sasha seemed to have forgotten about my presence, continuing, however, aloud to comment on his actions:
- We'll throw out the factory reinforcing bushing for x.., this shit will tear in all directions, it's made of raw steel. Now we will carve out another, good one, from alloy steel, put it on the barrel with a good interference fit. The return spring is also ejected, we will put it from the combat "Makar", otherwise the bolt will break …
So that no one knows it, we will omit other engineering chips. In short, the pistol was ready in two hours.
- Let's go check it out! - the gunsmith was clearly pleased with his work. We moved into a stunted forest not far from the house. - Here I have a shooting range, - the master jokes, - now I'll hang the target.
At a distance of 5 meters, Uncle Sasha fixes a centimeter-thick sheet of multilayer plywood he brought with him and twists the bolt. The first shot made my ears stuffy. Rumble - exactly like a combat pistol. After three shots, three straight holes appeared on the face of the plywood. And on the reverse side, chips were sticking out in different directions. It’s scary to imagine what would happen if you hit your head with such a pistol …
- And how much does this "tuning" cost? - I'm interested.
- 150 bucks. Of these, 25 - for the mainspring.
I once again examined the perforated plywood, and I felt somehow uneasy - already tonight the owner, on completely legal grounds, will put this seemingly harmless trunk in his pocket. And, as they say about the gun hanging on the wall, in the end he will definitely shoot. I wonder who …
Kill without a trace
According to investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, today on the black arms market in Moscow, a pistol converted from a traumatic one for shooting with live ammunition costs from 500 to 700 dollars. An undocumented traumatic pistol sells for between $ 200 and $ 500.
There is one more important touch. Almost every day, traumatic weapons are stolen in the course of thefts from apartments and cars. After that, the "Volyny" end up on the black market, where they are bought up by clandestine gunsmiths, such as Uncle Sasha. They grind down the identification number of the barrel, and then turn it into a combat one in a couple of hours. According to detectives specializing in the fight against the illicit trafficking of weapons and ammunition, today up to 90 percent of the black market for firearms in Moscow is formed precisely due to alterations from traumatic and gas weapons, scarecrows and large-sized models. In addition, traumatic weapons have one very attractive feature for criminals - they are practically not identified. According to experts - gunsmiths, a bullet from a military firearm contains information in the form of traces left by rifling in the bore of a particular weapon. These very traces, like fingerprints, are purely individual. That is, a weapon found in a suspect after a forensic shooting can become irrefutable proof that the crime was committed with this particular weapon. In the case of a rubber-fired analogue, the bullet, as a rule, is destroyed.
The "Pli!"
For those who follow the metropolitan crime chronicle, reports of the use of traumatic weapons are routine. With the help of "Os", "Makarychs" and "Leaders" road disputes are resolved, drivers shoot at pedestrians, and those - at drivers. With these weapons, they rob shops and exchangers, sort things out in communal kitchens, frighten sluggish sellers and impolite waiters. The recent shooting in Moscow by an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the driver of a snowblower became a sensation. "The increased demand for self-defense weapons is associated with the natural desire of people to protect themselves," says Nikolai Boev. According to the psychiatrist of the hospital. SP Botkin, psychologist Alexander Morozov, 90 percent of people buy traumatic weapons out of fear for their lives, the remaining 10 percent - to … show off in front of others. The first category is under the impression of newscasts, stories of acquaintances and a fingal under the eye of a neighbor, whose hooligans "asked for a smoke" at the door the night before. Together with the gun, these people try to buy themselves confidence. Some, however, have to pay for these delusions with their own health. And for someone to answer before the law, as was the case with the actor Vladislav Galkin, who was shooting from a "traumatic" on bottles in a bar.
As for the second category, these people buy weapons to show off to friends and the weaker sex. The practice of using weapons and the legal consequences are of little concern to them. "Note," says Alexander Morozov, "traumatic pistols, completely similar to combat ones, are in high demand in our country."
Don't panic
According to the law "On weapons", the right to purchase "traumatics" today have Russian citizens who have reached the age of 18, have no criminal record and have passed a medical examination. They must first obtain a special document from the internal affairs bodies at the place of residence - a license to acquire, store and carry. After that, go to the gun store and buy what you like. Within two weeks, the purchase must be registered with the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs that issued the license. These same 14 days completely fall out of sight of law enforcement officers.
It only seems that everything is extremely simple and clear. But the true state of affairs is such that today anyone can buy a weapon. As an experiment, try typing the phrase "gun license" on the Internet. At least a dozen offers will immediately pop up at a price of 7 thousand rubles. The do-gooders will offer you to bring the license directly home, of course, after receiving the prepayment and your photos. As practice shows, most of these ads are banal layout. That is, they will take money from you, after which the benefactor will melt into a fog. But in some cases, these are real services.
The police are, of course, concerned about the situation on the "traumatic" market. For example, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is actively lobbying for a mandatory training program for future owners of traumatic weapons. According to Itogi, it can be a 120-hour course, consisting of legal, fire, psychological and medical training. In all likelihood, schools authorized by the Ministry of Internal Affairs will train future owners of weapons. The training course in them can cost about 10 thousand rubles. In addition, in 2008, the Ministry of Internal Affairs proposed to introduce mandatory control shooting of all firearms "traumatics", which would significantly limit the use of traumatic pistols by criminals.
At the same time, lobbying is already under way for a law permitting the acquisition, storage and carrying of short-barreled firearms. Such "initiatives" cause panic among specialists. If the state is not able to establish elementary order in the "traumatic" market, then what can we say about a serious weapon? “I consider the free circulation of firearms to be a dangerous and poorly controlled topic,” says Gennady Gudkov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security. “First of all, we will not provide our citizens with equal rights. one-fourteenth of the population. The rest are against. Therefore, to think that the permission to carry combat pistols will solve the issues of personal safety of citizens is an illusion. Russia is a corrupt country. And this means that, bypassing all the prohibitions, bandits, people with an unstable psyche, will be the first to arm themselves, drug addicts, alcoholics ".
… Any stick has two ends - it is important in whose hands it is. For example, a kitchen knife is sold for cutting sausage. But much more crimes are committed with him than with the use of traumatic weapons.
There was a case
To defeat
Top 10 most shocking incidents involving the use of traumatic weapons in the capital
February 21, 2004. In an apartment on Leninsky Prospekt, a grandmother accidentally shot her 2-year-old grandson from a wasp pistol in the head. The bullet pierced the skull and damaged the brain and the orbit of the right eyeball. The child was taken to intensive care.
October 8, 2007. At the intersection of Bolshoy Spasoglinischevsky Lane and Solyanka, a Mitsubishi driver wounded three pedestrians with a pistol, who, in his opinion, were crossing the road too slowly.
December 5, 2008. On this day, traumatic weapons were used twice in road disputes. The first road accident happened on Presnensky Val street - the road "nine" and the minibus were not divided here. The driver of the "VAZ" drew his pistol and opened fire on the overcrowded minibus. As a result, several glasses were broken. No harm done. The driver of the "Zhiguli" fled from the scene. In the evening of the same day, they shot at the intersection of Andropov Avenue and Kolomensky Proezd. During the analysis of an insignificant road accident, the driver of the Gazelle seriously wounded the driver of a foreign car, firing a pistol in his eye.
December 10, 2008. On the bus on route 807, two young men disturbed an elderly woman traveling with her son, rudely demanding to remove the bag from the seat. A quarrel ensued. As a result, the son, who stood up for his mother, opened fire, hitting one of the instigators of the conflict in the eye. The victim with a penetrating wound was treated at the hospital.
December 11, 2008. A newcomer from Dagestan was found wounded in the chest in a Zhiguli on Vilis Latsis Street. As it turned out, he gave a ride to a certain man, and at the end of the way, not wanting to pay, he shot the driver twice. It was not possible to detain the shooter.
December 19, 2008. On Petrovsky Boulevard, borsetochniki robbed the driver of a foreign car. He opened fire on the car, in which the robbers tried to escape. Bullets pierced the rear window and the car collided with three more cars. No harm done.
September 17, 2009. The driver of one of the firms contacted the police and said that unknown persons, threatening with a pistol, had stolen a service Mercedes. MUR employees at house 10 on Nagorny Proyezd blocked a stolen foreign car. While trying to arrest the policemen, fire was opened. The attackers were detained. One of them, a 25-year-old visitor from Ingushetia, was seized with a TT traumatic pistol, which he owned without permission.
September 26, 2009. A visitor from Togliatti became a victim of a traumatic weapon. On Melitopol street, three people approached his "Gazelle". One of them shot a Togliatti citizen in the leg, after which the criminals took 220 thousand rubles from him and fled.
September 27, 2009. At the Sayany restaurant on Uralskaya Street, unknown persons quarreled with a 38-year-old Muscovite and shot him with a pistol. At the scene, operatives found 5 shell casings from a traumatic pistol of 9 mm caliber and the lifeless body of the victim.
December 13, 2009. The traffic inspector made a remark to a citizen who was walking along the carriageway of Rokotov Street. In response to the remark, the man shot him in the leg with a traumatic pistol and tried to escape, but was detained.
Instructions
Shooting rules
The use of traumatic weapons is regulated by articles of the Federal Law "On Weapons". So, a license is allowed to purchase no more than five weapons. For more, a special collecting license is required.
Citizens can use weapons in a state of necessary defense or extreme necessity. The use of weapons must be preceded by a clearly expressed warning about this to the person against whom the weapon is used, except in cases where delay creates an immediate danger to the life of people or may entail other grave consequences. The warning can be verbal or it can be a shot upward. Shooting must be carried out from a distance of at least one meter. It is forbidden to shoot in the head. The use of weapons must not harm third parties.
When worn, the weapon must be locked and the cartridge removed from the chamber. The number of rounds in the clip is limited to ten.
It is forbidden to use weapons against women, disabled people, minors when their age is obvious or known, except for the cases when these persons commit an armed or group attack.
The owner of the weapon is obliged to notify the internal affairs body at the place of use of the weapon about each use of weapons that caused harm to human health. This will be followed by an examination, proceedings and a court, which will determine the legality of use. Tuning weapons in this case can play a cruel joke with the owner. If the rework changed the ballistics, then the defender can turn into the accused.
It is forbidden to have a weapon with you while participating in meetings, rallies, demonstrations, processions, pickets or other mass actions.
Licenses to acquire, as well as permits to store and carry weapons are canceled in cases of death of the owner of the weapon, systematic (at least twice a year) violation of the requirements of the law, constructive alteration of weapons and cartridges for it.
The decision to revoke licenses or permits must be preceded by prior written notice to the license or permit holder by the authority issuing the license or permit. The warning indicates which legal norms and rules have been violated or not complied with, and a deadline is set for eliminating violations.
In case of cancellation of licenses or permits, reapplication for their receipt is possible for legal entities after three years from the date of their cancellation, and for citizens - after five years.
Practice
Not toys
The head of the department for organizing the licensing and permitting work of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate for the Moscow Region, Militia Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Filatov, answers the questions.
- Enough. In total, about 100 thousand owners of traumatic and gas weapons are registered in the Moscow region. It often happens that weapons are stored anywhere: in a closet, under a sofa, in a parked car. This is the very case when carelessness is a crime. And also, either out of ignorance, or because of the emerging feeling of superiority, which, probably, the weapon gives them, our people begin to use it from right to left. Over the past six months, more than 30 crimes with the use of traumatic weapons have been committed in the Moscow region alone. In all cases, the perpetrators were prosecuted, since they exceeded the required degree of defense.
How is the circulation of traumatic weapons regulated?
- We exercise control over all citizens who own weapons, we are trying to strictly comply with the requirements of the regulatory framework. The procedure for the registration, receipt and use of traumatic weapons is spelled out in the Law "On Weapons" of 1996, as well as in a number of departmental instructions issued in the late 90s. The procedure for obtaining a license for "traumatics" provides for the submission of a medical opinion and verification of knowledge of the legal framework.
It's no secret that the same medical certificates are bought for money. Do you check things like this?
- The Ministry of Health and Social Development provides for a special form No. 046-1 to obtain a license for weapons, which requires the passage of four doctors - a psychiatrist, a narcologist, an ophthalmologist and a therapist. If the submitted certificate raises suspicion, then a request is sent to a medical institution, and in case of falsification, measures are taken. An attacker can be held accountable and, of course, no license is issued.
What is missing in the legislative framework to reduce the number of offenses with the use of "traumatics"?
- Now the Ministry of Internal Affairs is considering the introduction of a practical exam as an innovation. The fact is that when a person first picks up a weapon and does not really know how to own it, he accordingly does not know about the possible consequences. And if, in the course of preparing for the exam, he exercises in shooting, acquires the necessary skills, he will imagine what power it has and what can follow from its application. In addition, the owner of a traumatic weapon will feel the edge of exceeding the required degree of self-defense. No one has canceled Article 37 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which says that opposition must be adequate to the danger of encroachment.
Is Western experience taken into account when developing the exam?
- Of course. It is a well-known American practice: if a candidate for obtaining or renewing a license has not fired a certain number of shots within a year and has not provided information about this to the police, then a weapon permit will not be issued or renewed, and the weapon itself will be withdrawn. I am not a supporter of draconian measures, and our Criminal Code in this sense is quite work-capable, does not require any tightening, but people themselves should understand that they are not holding a toy.
Security measures
At gunpoint
What if they are going to use a traumatic weapon against you? Sergey Filatov, master of sports in sambo, instructor of the "Skif" self-defense club, shared his advice
It cannot be ruled out that self-defense weapons, which have become widespread among the population, will be used to attack you. If words cannot convince an attacker armed with a pistol, try to get as close to him as possible by making a clinch grip, blocking his hand with a pistol if possible. If you do not have the skills of wrestling techniques, try, on the contrary, to break the distance as quickly as possible. It is difficult for an untrained shooter to hit a target at a distance of 5-6 meters, besides, as they say in our circles, an "eraser" (a bullet from a rubber-firing pistol) in the ass from six meters is better than it is from a meter in the head. If they do open fire on you, remember that a bag, case or folder is a good protection against traumatic ammunition.
The first and main conclusion: if the enemy has a pistol in his hand, it means that you have already lost half the battle. Any conflict situation must be very carefully monitored so that this does not happen, and the removal of weapons must be blocked. Second conclusion: if it did happen, then your main chances are that your opponent misses. And for this you need to sharply break the distance and leave the line of attack.
Counter
How much to shoot?
The counters of arms stores are now bursting with an abundance of "traumatics" (pictured). There are about 30 models on the market. The main share is occupied by pistols of 9 mm caliber, but recently heavy equipment has also appeared - the Turkish Terminator pump-gun and the Russian 12-gauge Houda double-barreled gun. The cost of "traumatics" ranges from 10 to 20 thousand rubles.
According to experts, buyers, as a rule, are interested in two things: similarity to a combat barrel and power. From the point of view of similarity, the Makarych pistol reminiscent of the PM is irreplaceable. As for the power, the "Wasp" is among the leaders. Its muzzle energy is up to 85 J.
Abroad, in the production of self-defense weapons, silumin is used - an alloy of aluminum with silicon, which makes products fragile and therefore short-lived. We have never saved on steel, and most buyers prefer Russian developments produced by three plants - in Izhevsk, Vyatskiye Polyany and Sergiev Posad.
It is necessary to store weapons in a special safe with a wall thickness of at least 2 millimeters. Will pull such a safe for 2-3 thousand rubles.
A holster, depending on the material, can cost from 500 rubles to 15 thousand rubles.
A pack of 20 cartridges - from 600 rubles. If you are actively exercising, then you will need at least two packs a month.
