#5 - JRL 7265
Poll Shows Majority of Russians Oppose Sale of Firearms for Self-Defense

MOSCOW. July 23 (Interfax) - Sixty percent of Russians oppose the sale of firearms for self-defense purposes, and only 18%, mainly young people aged 18 to 24, favor this idea. This information was obtained by sociologists from the company ROMIR Monitoring in a poll conducted on 1,500 Russians in July. When asked what weapons they would buy if they could, 51% of the respondents said they would not buy any weapons, 19% said they would buy a gas-operated spray gun, 18% a combat pistol, 4% a automatic rifle and 3% a hunting rifle. Only a quarter of the respondents (26%) believe that easier access to weapons would make Russia more safe. An estimated 43% of the respondents believe that this would make Russia less safe, 19% said it would have no effect and 12% were undecided. The overwhelming majority of Russians (90%) do not have registered personal firearms and only one-tenth of the respondents said they do have such firearms. Four percent of the respondents own hunting rifles and 3% have arms as a requirement for their jobs.