On April 18, 2026, a mass murderer killed six people in Kyiv, Ukraine. He took hostages and barricaded himself in a supermarket. Two police officers fled the scene. He killed the victims with a legally registered assault rifle. The killer was 58 years old. Police attempted to negotiate for an hour before storming the position and killing the murderer.
One day later, on April 19, 2026, Ukraine's Interior Minister, Ihor Klymenko showed his support for relaxing Ukraine's controls on firearms, to allow citizens to have firearms, including handguns, for their defense. Klymenko promised the mass murder would not be used to conduct mass checks of weapons owners. He deplored the action of the two police officers. He said he supported the loosening of restrictions on the ownership of defensive firearms, especially handguns. Civilian ownership of handguns is banned in Ukraine. From Ukrainska Pravda:
On the question of granting civilians the right to possess firearms, including handguns, the interior minister said: "I believe that people must be given the right to armed self-defense. Especially after the experience of the early days of the full-scale invasion, when civilians received weapons for national resistance".
The push to liberalize the Ukrainian law on the ownership and carry of handguns did not start with Kylmenko. Ihor Friz, who is with the ruling Servant of the People Party, proposed a reform in 2022. Polls on the subject indicate 59% of the public support the right to carry a handgun for self defense. Only 22% reject the idea entirely.
Klymenko's words have been followed with actions. On May 6, 2026, President Zelensky said he had been briefed by Interior Minister Klyenko. He supported a reform law. From kyivpost.com:
“Ukraine needs a modern and strong law on civilian firearms that will protect citizens without weapons and realistically regulate the situation for those who own weapons,” Zelensky said.
The Czech Republic serves as an example. It has some of the least restrictive firearms laws in Europe. In the Czech Republic, a permit to carry a handgun for self protection is shall issue. According to Wikipedia, about 83% of gun owners were authorized to carry concealed weapons at the end of 2025. Once authorization to own guns is approved, the permission is for the lifetime of the owner. The total number of gun owners in the Czech Republic is a little over 3% of the population. The Czech Republic has one of the lowest crime rates in Europe.
A major motivator to reform the Ukrainian law is the number of firearms which exist in the Republic because of the war. It could be difficult to keep them out of citizens' hands.
As of 11 June, 2026, a published report shows Ihor Klymenko signed an order to create a working group to consider how to regulate citizen ownership of firearms, how to obtain permits to own firearms, and how to address issues of responsibility and self-defense. Once rules are drafted, they will be presented to the Ukraine parliament to be considered.
Eastern Europe has trended toward a more liberal model of firearms ownership than Western Europe. The Czech Republic, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro have shall issue or permissive "may issue" concealed carry laws. Permits to carry concealed weapons are almost impossible to obtain in the rest of Europe.
©2026 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
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