Ukrainian law enforcement officials in at least one major city have simplified the gun buying process to allow more civilians to purchase firearms more quickly.
Police in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv told Reuters that they have decreased the time to buy a gun from two to three weeks to two to three days. Concerned Ukrainians have descended on local gun shops to buy rifles and shotguns to protect their homes in and around the city.
“I can see that Russia will not stop, so I must stop them,” said Andrew Muzyka, a web developer waiting with dozens of men outside a gun shop near Lviv’s medical university. “If we can’t save ourselves, nobody can.”
Estimates of the number of guns in private Ukrainian hands range from 2.2 to 6.3 million, according to GunPolicy.org. This puts the median rate of civilian gun ownership at 6.6 firearms per 100 people, far less than the ownership rate in the United States (120 per 100 people).
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There is a gun rights movement in the country. The Ukrainian Gun Owners Association (UGOA), part of an international group of organizations led by the Second Amendment Foundation, works to promote safe gun ownership and relax gun ownership laws.
They’ve faced an uphill battle in recent years. In 2018, an apartment owned by the father of the head of the UGOA was raided by police. In 2017, the chief of the National Police of Ukraine, Serhiy Kniazev, claimed that the common citizens should not possess weapons during wartime.
Firearm ownership is restricted to shotguns and rifles for sporting and hunting purposes. However, on February 23rd, 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a declaration of a state of emergency, the Ukrainian parliament approved a law that gives citizens the right to carry weapons outside their homes for the purpose of self-defense.
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Those citizens are taking advantage of the new policies to arm up in preparation for war.
Oleh Lekhush told Reuters that the 500 people in his town’s civilian defense force had only about 20 firearms between them. He has no military experience, but he understands that firearms will soon be necessary.
“When the tensions began on the border I started making preparations,” he said. “Unfortunately the only thing I didn’t do was buy a weapon. But I’m hoping I will get it as soon as I can.”