sailingaway
12-20-2012, 06:31 PM
http://gdb.rferl.org/12DFAADD-E481-43C2-BAF4-C810F4CE5F92_w640_r1_s.jpg
MOSCOW -- The mass shooting last week at an elementary school in Connecticut sparked calls for stricter gun control laws in the United States. But thousands of kilometers away, the fledgling gun lobby in Moscow drew a different lesson: Gun laws in Russia should be liberalized.
And while the powerful U.S. gun lobby group, the National Rifle Association, waited four days before issuing a public statement on the tragedy, which claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults, the Moscow-based Right To Bear Arms made its voice heard within hours with an announcement on its website calling for increased access to weapons.
"In this shooting six teachers died, six people who could literally use only their hands to defend children," said Maria Butina, the organization's 24-year old founder. "The murderer planned this knowing that no one would be armed."
Boosted by a surge of civic activism and a stream of new violence that has kept guns in the news, leaders of Russia’s gun movement -- virtually nonexistent a year ago -- say all they have to do now is convince Russians themselves of the value of greater access to guns.
And their rhetoric appears to be inspired, at least in part, by that of the gun lobby in the United States.
more: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-gun-laws-newtown-massacre/24804185.html
MOSCOW -- The mass shooting last week at an elementary school in Connecticut sparked calls for stricter gun control laws in the United States. But thousands of kilometers away, the fledgling gun lobby in Moscow drew a different lesson: Gun laws in Russia should be liberalized.
And while the powerful U.S. gun lobby group, the National Rifle Association, waited four days before issuing a public statement on the tragedy, which claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults, the Moscow-based Right To Bear Arms made its voice heard within hours with an announcement on its website calling for increased access to weapons.
"In this shooting six teachers died, six people who could literally use only their hands to defend children," said Maria Butina, the organization's 24-year old founder. "The murderer planned this knowing that no one would be armed."
Boosted by a surge of civic activism and a stream of new violence that has kept guns in the news, leaders of Russia’s gun movement -- virtually nonexistent a year ago -- say all they have to do now is convince Russians themselves of the value of greater access to guns.
And their rhetoric appears to be inspired, at least in part, by that of the gun lobby in the United States.
more: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-gun-laws-newtown-massacre/24804185.html