Estonia justifies the decision with security reasons. Russians, Belarusians and stateless persons who have lost their gun licenses have had a total of three thousand guns.
TALLINN A tall man is standing in a gun shop in the Kristiine district of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, holding an American Bushmaster rifle.
– This is exactly what I had.
He can’t get any closer to owning a gun than hopping in the store.
Yuri Petrov is an experienced shooter and gun trainer.
He is also one of the 1,300 Russians, Belarusians and stateless persons living in Estonia who lost their weapons due to the war of aggression against Russia.
The Estonian parliament decided to revoke their gun license in February 2023. The transition period lasted until the middle of March this year.
Police major: The Russian constitution obliges them
The decision on weapon licenses was made on the proposal of the Minister of the Interior. Head of the Licensing Department of the Police and Border Agency Anneli Annist says that the underlying idea was internal security.
– The purpose is to remove weapons from the homes of people who do not necessarily share our values, Annist tells .
Technically speaking, Estonia revoked the gun permits of all so-called third-country nationals. In practice, however, almost all those who were left without a gun license were Russians, Belarusians or stateless persons. Even those without citizenship are mostly Russian-speaking.
Police major Annist also refers to the Russian constitution when explaining the background of the decision.
– Russian citizens have a constitutional obligation to fight for their motherland. In light of the war in Ukraine, we had to be ready for the fact that these people might turn their weapons on our country and people, Annist states.
Populist discrimination, says the one who lost his weapon
Yuri Petrov, who lost a collection of 30 pistols, revolvers, rifles and carbines, considers the arguments to be nonsense.
According to him, Russians or Belarusians who owned licensed weapons are not any kind of threat to Estonia.
– Shooting sportsmen and hunters are the most reliable part of the population that [aseluvan menettämisen pelossa] doesn’t even speed or drink too much alcohol.
– This is just populist discrimination, says Petrov.
He is able to continue shooting sports only by renting a gun from a shooting range, where the former instructor now needs the constant presence of the instructor by law.
– The expenses are at least double compared to before, Petrov laments.
The canceled weapons licenses were canceled all at once on March 15. By that time, those who lost their permits had to get rid of their weapons either by selling them or handing them over to the police.
According to Anneli Annist, she was not happy about the forced surrender of weapons.
– This is a pretty big limitation. Although the process went well in the end, we encountered anger and had to explain quite a lot. One weapon was brought to us sawn off as a demonstration, says Annist.
Used gun market saturated
Owners have one year from the date of surrender to decide what to do with the weapons stored by the police. The options are deactivation or sale. If no decision is made, the police will forcibly redeem the weapons at the average market price.
However, the sales options are tight, states the seller of the Citysec gun store Rain Riiv.
– When the information about the cancellation of gun licenses came out, our phone rarely rang that day. However, there were also a lot of weapons on offer that we didn’t worry about, Riiv says.
In Estonia, during the war of aggression against Russia, the granting of gun acquisition permits and the renewal of gun permits also for Estonian citizens have been significantly tightened.
– From our point of view, it doesn’t look good. Acquisition permits for additional weapons are often not given even to athletes, Riiv regrets.