Regarding gun regulations in Russia, this quote pretty much sums it up:
Members of public are allowed to own these categories of firearms:
1. Shotguns (and air-rifles from 3 to 25 joules of muzzle power)
2. Rifles (after 5 years long term of owning a shotgun and 5 years long membership in a hunting cooperative)
These two categories mean shoulder guns.
3. "Self-defense weapons" Those are gas pistols and so-called traumatic guns which fire a rubber bullet using a light charge of gunpowder.
No handguns, automatic fire and such.
Licences.
Buying a gun requires obtaining a licence from the police. Anyone starting from 18 years of age can obtain a shotgun or a self-defense weapons licence if he/she meets those criterias:
- not in file as a drug addict/alcoholic
- not in file as mentally ill
- no criminal record
- health certificate
- no certain misdemeanours comitted (such like misuse of firearms)
- that person passed an exam (on legal issues and firearm handling).
- good character report from the neighbourhood police inspector
- a steel gun safe. (very often they require it to be fixed to a wall)
The rifle license requires the same plus 5 years long owning of a hunting smoothbore licence
There are these types of licences:
1. Hunting smoothbore /air powered weapons - this requires joining a hunting cooperative before applying to the police. Hunting cooperatives require an applicant to pass an exam. One with such licence can keep a weapon at home, wear it in hunting/sports grounds and transport it elsewhere. A gun being transported must be unloaded, upholstered, ammo stored separately.
2. Self-defense smoothbore /air powered weapons. One with this licence can keep a weapon at home.
3. Rifle licence. Same as hunting smoothbore weapons' licence carry/storing/transporting regulations plus annual forensic shoot-off.
4. Self-defense weapons. One can carry such a weapon everywhere except certain places.
All the licences must be renewed in 5 years. One can buy up to 5 pieces of weapons of each category. Cold weapons can be bought by hunting licence holders.
Ammo.
Ammo can be bought according to the caliber in your licence. That is a 0.308Win rifle owner cannot buy 30-06 cartridges. Gun dealers log ammo purchases.
Shotgun shells can be legally reloaded (powder is sold by the gun dealers). Rifle cartridges - a legal uncertainity with them, rifle powder cannot be found on sale. However, rifle owners disassemble factory cartridges to get the powder and load imported shells with it and imported bullets Those ones are bought mainly in the US web-shops.
There are private security firms.
They can rent (previously could own) handguns from the police. The handguns are limited in muzzle power - 300 J.
How exactly formal regulations relate to facts depends on how far extends rule of law in certain part of Russia. You'd expect more adhering citizens in big cities of Western Russia, less so in smaller towns and villages where criminalization of society is higher and inter-ethnic conflicts are boiling, and next to none respect to laws in North Caucasus region which is
de facto locked in unending undeclared war between criminal and terror groups and various security officials, that is given very little observance in mass media.
Just pure statistics of casualties at NC for last two months:
- July 7-13: 6 dead, 10 wounded
- June 30 - July 6: 17 dead, 16 wounded
- June 23-29: 5 dead, 16 wounded
- June 16-22: 20 dead, 28 wounded
- June 9-15: 21 dead, 15 wounded
- June 2-8: 16 dead, 6 wounded
- May 26 - June 1: 19 dead, 6 wounded
- May 19-25: 8 dead, 2 wouded
- May 12-18: 6 dead, 4 wounded
- ...
It is not an unlikely situation in Moscow when a road conflict due to most simple cause (like moving across another car's path) can result in fierce and lethal shooting, especially if the offender happens to "defile an honour" of a bunch of young men traveling in expensive black cars with [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Russia"]code 95[/ame] on the license plate.
Weakening of outreach of lawful authority control results in series of incidents connected to handing of firearms. It is becoming a proven fact that defending yourself against aggressive criminal offense is best handled with applying maximum lethal force one can gather.
For instance in this story (
http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/grigorii-golosov/kushchevskaya-crime-and-punishment-in-russian-village) civilians not attempting to defend themselves, paid dear. In one more recent case (
1,
2,
3) having firearms helped to repel assault of bandits. However, authorities are most reluctant to ease restrictions of gun trade, because they have well grounded concerns about growth of insurgent groups activity, like that one:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/10/russia-hunts-rambo-outlaws-killing-police
For an ordinary citizen the best strategy is to take steps to personal well being that helps to pick places of living at distance from troublesome regions and pray God would keep you alive and healthy. If you are successful on this path you might not need even a pepper spray in your life.
You wanted facts...