Essay: Do you strongly believe in gun rights? Don't move to Russia!

Vladimir Putin

See also: Vladimir Putin is a corrupt kleptocrat and an authoritarian

Compared to the United States and Switzerland, Russia has significantly lower gun rights. Of course, this is not suprising given that Vladimir Putin is an authoritarian, corrupt, kleptocrat (See: Vladimir Putin is a corrupt kleptocrat and an authoritarian).

Below are some resources on gun control in Russia:

Gun Control in Russia

Putin calls for tougher gun laws, TASS (Russian News Agency), 2021

Russia to revise gun laws, Russia Today, 2021

Vladimir Putin orders new gun control laws, Axios, May 11, 2021

How Russians lost their own 2nd Amendment: The right to bear arms, Russia Beyond website, 2017

Russians, Their Guns And the State, Moscow Times, 2016

Video:

Are guns legal in Russia?

1 Vladimir Putin and authoritarianism
- 1.1 Vladimir Putin and electoral authoritarianism
- 1.2 Vladimir's Putin's propaganda machine
2 Gun rights in the United States
- 2.1 The National Rifle Association in the United States
3 Gun rights in Switzerland
4 User Conservative's international relations essays
5 See also
6 References

Vladimir Putin and authoritarianism

Vladimir Putin and electoral authoritarianism

Vladimir Putin

A description of the book Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes by Vladimir Gel'man which is published by the University of Pittsburg Press states:

“

Russia today represents one of the major examples of the phenomenon of “electoral authoritarianism” which is characterized by adopting the trappings of democratic institutions (such as elections, political parties, and a legislature) and enlisting the service of the country’s essentially authoritarian rulers. Why and how has the electoral authoritarian regime been consolidated in Russia? What are the mechanisms of its maintenance, and what is its likely future course? This book attempts to answer these basic questions.

Vladimir Gel’man examines regime change in Russia from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to the present day, systematically presenting theoretical and comparative perspectives of the factors that affected regime changes and the authoritarian drift of the country. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia’s national political elites aimed to achieve their goals by creating and enforcing of favorable “rules of the game” for themselves and maintaining informal winning coalitions of cliques around individual rulers. In the 1990s, these moves were only partially successful given the weakness of the Russian state and troubled post-socialist economy. In the 2000s, however, Vladimir Putin rescued the system thanks to the combination of economic growth and the revival of the state capacity he was able to implement by imposing a series of non-democratic reforms. In the 2010s, changing conditions in the country have presented new risks and challenges for the Putin regime that will play themselves out in the years to come.^[1]

”

The abstract for the 2018 journal article Regional elections in Russia: instruments of authoritarian legitimacy or instability? states:

“

This study examines three rounds of regional assembly and gubernatorial elections in Russia that took place in September 2015, 2016 and 2017. In particular, it examines the ways in which the regime has manipulated the elections to guarantee the victory of United Russia. The study shows that the Kremlin has adopted a new electoral strategy. Rather than engaging in the risky business of outright fraud during the vote count, which was an important factor in sparking mass protests against the regime, in the wake of the 2011 elections to the State Duma, the authorities have decided to concentrate their efforts on preventing opposition parties and candidates from registering for the elections. Whilst other forms of electoral malpractice have continued to be practiced, such as coercing or bribing voters to turn out and vote for United Russia, promoting “carousel voting” (multiple voting by groups of mobilised citizens), or ballot stuffing, much more focus has been paid in these elections on manipulating the registration process in favour of United Russia. As is clearly demonstrated, scores of opposition candidates and party lists, have been prevented from competing because of problems with their registration documents. However, whilst this strategy has helped United Russia win large majorities in all of the gubernatorial and assembly elections, it has also created lacklustre and predictable contests, and this in turn has led to a sharp decline in turnout, particularly in the gubernatorial elections. There is a real danger that these low levels of turnout may gradually erode the legitimacy of United Russia, embolden the opposition, and threaten the stability of the regime.^[2]

”

Vladimir Putin at a conference.

Vladimir's Putin's propaganda machine

The below videos provide information on Vladimir Putin's propaganda machine:

The Pro-Kremlin Youth Group: Putin's Propaganda Machine

Controlling the Media: Putin’s Propaganda Machine (Part 2)

Silencing Dissent in Russia: Putin’s Propaganda Machine

How Putin's propaganda works - explained by a Russian

Gun rights in the United States

Flag of the United States

See also: Second Amendment and United States

The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution states: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story explained: "The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them."

The predecessor^[3] of the Second Amendment, the 1689 English Bill of Rights states that Protestant citizens can "have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Conditions and as allowed by Law".

The National Rifle Association in the United States

See also: National Rifle Association

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is a human rights advocacy group which promotes the right to bear arms as well as promoting interest in shooting sports. It runs training classes in gun use and safety, and publishes magazines of interest to gun owners. It is also dedicated to protecting Americans' Second Amendment rights.

As of 2018, a total of 52 U.S. Senators seek the support of the NRA and have grades of A- or better from this organization.^[4]

The NRA was founded after the American Civil War by former Union soldiers seeking to improve the shooting skills of the population at large. One of the biggest enemies of NRA is the Ku Klux Klan.^[5] However, the NRA's historic opposition to the KKK has been conveniently whitewashed by the Klan's founders, the Democrat Party.^[6]

The NRA is non-partisan and has endorsed both Republicans and Democrats. It most often endorses Republicans, as that party is more prone to fielding candidates receptive to Second Amendment rights. For the 2018 election cycle, the NRA has already vowed to spent big money to defeat Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) in conservative Montana. The NRA says it is doing this because Tester voted against the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch, but also Montana is a state where it is easier to defeat a Democrat.

In 2004 the NRA successfully opposed renewal of the federal assault weapons ban of 1994, which banned many features of certain semiautomatic rifles and certain types of removable magazines, against a campaign to make the ban permanent and expand it.^[7] The ban expired at midnight, September 13, 2004.

The NRA owns and operates the National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia, which is free to the public.

National Rifle Association logo.

The American ideal of freedom and the right to self-defense helped to inspire the Second Amendment are partly symbolized by the minutemen.

Gun rights in Switzerland

Gun rights in Switerland

Switzerland has one of the most generous gun rights in the world.^[8]

According to the 2022 Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report, the Swiss are comfortably the wealthiest population in the world when measuring the average (mean) level of wealth per person ($696,600, or CHF652,890 in 2021).^[9]