When I first started watching Russian movies from the Soviet days, I was surprised by the prevalence of guns in civilian hands. Like in this 1970s movie, where some kids get a handgun, albeit with tragic results. Kids also get their hands on a gun in Balkon, but I’ve barely started watching that one, so I don’t know how it turns out.
I got to thinking of it because of a recent fuss over guns on the bicycle touring list. Every once in a while someone brings up the topic of packing a gun while touring. There are those who object to the idea, and I’m pretty much on their side as it applies to me. But others go a lot further than just giving all the reasons why it’s a bad idea for most people. One person doesn’t mind if other people do it, as long as they don’t ride with him. I would not discriminate on such grounds myself, though I’m a solo rider so it’s not an issue.
Others – some of them from other countries – think it reflects badly on the United States that we even talk about such things. But is the United States the only country with a gun culture, so called?
Somehow I once had the idea that there was not much private ownership of guns in the Soviet Union, except perhaps for some hunters in remote parts of Siberia. The Nazis took away civilian guns in Germany, and I had the idea that all authoritarian states did the same. In the United States I think there was some kind of gun control movement in the South in the early-mid 20th century because the people in power didn’t want African Americans to have guns. I don’t know the details, though, nor do I know where to find them.
But I also recall an earlier surprise from long before I started watching Russian movies. It may have been in January 1991 during the troubles in Lithuania. We heard reports that the government was broadcasting a demand that the people turn in their guns.
What? Civilians in a Soviet-bloc country have guns? That was news to me. Since then I’ve brought it up several times in debates when gun control advocates sneer at the idea that civilians can use them to protect themselves from an abusive government.
So maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised about gun ownership in the Soviet Union, too.
I suppose it shouldn’t have been a surprise that in a big country like that, with a lot of forested and open spaces, that there would be a need for guns for hunting. But what about handguns? Are the handguns that we see in civilian hands in movies all legit? Or was private ownership of them officially prohibited? How prevalent was the ownership of guns in general, and handguns in particular, legal or otherwise?
Reticulator
Actually, it is very interesting question (as for guns/handguns in Soviet Union).
Firstly, as for me, I don’t believe in theory of private guns as a defence of the civials from an abusive government. Perhaps, it well works in the text-books, but in a practical life we see a different using. As a rule, it is the cases of guns shooting in supermarkets, schools, public offices etc by the unbalanced persons (who have own handguns). – Unfortunately, now this “fashion” is shared in Europe and Russia as if going from Wild West (and Hollywood movies). If this theory would be actual thing, every person (say, Mr. Usama Ben Laden) should has the right on own Atomic bomb, otherwise a government always has an advantage over a person.
As Anton Chekhov said: “If a gun hangs on the wall in a room, it will fire difinitely” – that we saw (and continue to see) in the national conflicts between peoples.
As for Soviet Union, don’t forget that in XX century Russia had two global war in own territory (WWI and WWII) plus one very blood the Civil War. In fact, all people (or all men…) were armed since 1914 to 1922 and since 1941 to 1945.
Althought, after the wars the powers tried withdraw all guns from civilians, some people (a minority, of course) kept the dangerous war trophies for themselves. Indeed, the illegal guns was often a catch for the criminals.
Many Soviet films (including, in “crime drama genre”) tell about the dangerous fate of these trophies.
Some handguns were the reward for the war veterans (instance, in a TV films “Mesto vstrechi izmenit nelzya” Lieutenant Sharapov had a such one).
Besides, the Caucasus people always had private gauns because traditions. In Soviet Union, the laws had been permiting a owning of the guns for some Caucasus people (as a part of national way of life).
Plus the government gave the handguns to all high officials (for example, the mayors).
True, in film “Proshu slova” rather we see a sport handgun, because Inna Churikova’s herione is a professional person on sport shooting.
Not only in Siberia, the hunters had legal guns. It was possible for any citizen, who entered in the All-Union Hunting Society.
Some ancient artefacts collectors could get a licence on guns.
For example, a famous film writer Yuli Dunskiy (who – jointly with Valery Frid – wrote a scenery for the first film in Sherlock Holmes series) entered in the All-Union Hunting Society to collect the ancient knifes and guns. But, as the friends told after his depth, he had a serious asthma. He knew that several years after, his health will be so poor that a life is a real torment. So, having a licence on ancient guns, he did suicide with gun shoot.
…I think, such numbers of Soviet movies, where we see how the civials have the gungs, because that even isolated cases of murders with the guns had serious response in society of 1960-1970s. As for post-war time, there throphy guns been.