Is it possible to get a weapons permit with an expunged criminal record?

In the process of obtaining a permit, which allows you to carry or store civilian weapons, each owner is faced with a number of requirements. These requirements are regulated by law and are aimed at ensuring safe circulation of weapons.

The number of weapons that are in private hands is growing over time; today it is several million guns. Ensuring state control over the circulation of weapons is a priority task of the entire licensing system.

Returning to the requirements, it should be noted that the potential owner of any type of weapon must compare his own chances of obtaining permits. If even one of the points below is not met, this will lead to the licensing authorities refusing to issue the coveted document.

Requirements for gun owners

In order to submit an application allowing you to obtain permission to purchase weapons, you must first familiarize yourself with the list of requirements.

• The citizen must be 18 years old (in case of purchasing a traumatism). But other things being equal, when it comes to legalizing rifled weapons, the age limit is limited to 21 years.
• A citizen must have permanent registration. Temporary registration is allowed, provided that the citizen actually lives at the address stated in the application form.
• An applicant for a license must provide the licensing department with a medical certificate, which indicates that the state of health meets certain standards. Attached to this certificate are extracts from the drug dispensary and from the psychiatrist. This indicates that the citizen is not registered with any of these specialists. Recently, the results of analysis for the content of substances of a narcotic nature in the body have also been required.
• A citizen should not be held administratively liable for violations related to failure to maintain public order. Here we are talking about a period of time that is limited to the last year, but not for all years.
• The citizen must not be serving a criminal sentence, and he must not have an outstanding criminal record.

We specifically placed the criminal record requirement in last place in order, but this does not mean that this requirement has the last place in importance. And if no complaints or questions arise regarding the other requirements, then the topic of an outstanding or expunged criminal record requires in-depth analysis, as shown by the statistics of questions on various forums.

Was Convicted 10 Years Ago Can I Get a Permit for a Hunting Weapon?

Preamble (can be skipped) First, you need to understand three things: 1. We are consumers of the government service of issuing the necessary paper, and they are service sector workers providing this service. The procedure for the provision of State Services is determined by the relevant Federal Law FZ-210. 2. All actions of the LRO for issuing licenses/permits are described in the relevant regulations (the list and links to the main ones are at the end of the post), they do not have the right to deviate from the requirements of these regulations or demand from us anything beyond what is prescribed in these regulations. This is an order from the most important guardsman - by deviating from his demands, they are violating the order. And FZ-210 too. 3. The very principle of the State Services portal is to simplify the receipt of any piece of paper as much as possible and reduce communication between citizens and officials to a minimum. Ideally, everything is done in one visit - when you come to pick up the finished piece of paper

7. In case of obtaining a license to purchase, extend or re-issue a permit due to a change of place of residence, prohibitors are required to contact the applicant and agree on the date and time of the inspection of storage conditions. If the applicant is located in a rural or hard-to-reach area where there is no Russian Guard unit, then they MUST send a written assignment to the relevant authority of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and they must contact the applicant and agree on the date and time of the inspection. No one is obliged to run and look for a local police officer to sign an act of checking storage conditions! There is no such requirement in any regulation. Such a requirement on the part of prohibitors is a direct violation of regulations and Federal Law-210.

What is an expunged criminal record?

When answering the question whether it is possible to obtain a weapons permit with an expunged criminal record, you should first recall when a criminal record is considered expunged. Having a criminal record imposes certain restrictions on a citizen’s activities. It is known that with a criminal record you cannot run for office, you cannot obtain citizenship, you cannot buy weapons or join the law enforcement agencies.

The removal of a criminal record or its expungement implies the removal of all restrictions.

• If there was a criminal record, and a decision was made to apply a suspended sentence, then its expungement occurs automatically after the end of the assigned probationary period.
• A sentence imposed may mean more than just immediate imprisonment. There are softer solutions, for example, compulsory work. In this case, the criminal record will be considered expunged after one year counted from the end of execution of the sentence.

• Persons serving a real sentence for crimes committed that are considered minor or medium in severity will be able to expunge their criminal record three years after the end of the assigned term.
• When committing serious crimes that cause the death of a person, fairly large sentences are imposed. The terms for expunging a criminal record are also increasing. So, after imprisonment, a person will expunge his criminal record only after eight years.
• In judicial practice, there are also particularly serious crimes; they are associated with the death of several people. In this case, the criminal record is expunged only ten years after serving the sentence.

What is the difference between a license and a permit

The key difference between these 2 documents is the nature of the aspects of handling weapons they regulate:

• the license gives the right to purchase it;
• the permit serves as a legal basis for storing and carrying weapons.

Moreover, whether you need to receive or not receive this or that document depends on what kind of weapon you want to purchase. Let's take a closer look.

According to the current legislation, the entire range of goods falling under the definition of “weapons” can be divided into 3 groups according to characteristics and areas of application:

• civil - ordinary citizens can own and use it;
• official - with the appropriate permission, it can be used by employees of internal affairs bodies and security organizations;
• combat - an arsenal for combat operations.

Of all the above, we are interested in civilian weapons, since obtaining a service weapon, and especially a combat weapon, is a completely different issue that requires separate detailed consideration.

Thus, the list of required documents depends on the “seriousness” of the desired product. In particular, you will need a license for an air gun if its power exceeds 3J, and if it is more than 7.5J, then you will have to obtain a permit with all the ensuing consequences. More detailed information is presented in the table below. From it you will understand which weapons do not require permission and a license, and which ones require them separately or together.

If you want to buy a cold version, then in this case there will be even less difficulties. By default, such samples cannot fire traditional ammunition - they are adapted to work exclusively with imitation cartridges. A reverse conversion to a combat state is impossible. Therefore, you do not need a permit for a cold weapon.

Possibility of obtaining a weapons license

Now we can talk about how to get a gun license with an expunged criminal record. If we turn to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, then its 86th article states that a citizen with an expunged criminal record restores all his rights, since the provided restrictions are lifted.

However, in order to increase the efficiency of the licensing system, as well as ensure the safe circulation of weapons, certain amendments have been introduced to the Federal Law “On Weapons” for some time. In particular, they affected expunged criminal records. These amendments maintain prohibitions on activities related to weapons.

A citizen who has committed a serious or especially serious crime cannot count on obtaining a weapons permit, even after expunging his criminal record.

An example could even be a robbery that resulted in the death of a person. The severity of the crime is determined in each case individually. Practice shows that a citizen with an expunged criminal record can rightfully be completely denied further paperwork, even if he was convicted, for example, of battery or grievous bodily harm, but not resulting in the death of a person. The court is based on the fact that if such a citizen was able to raise his hand against a person, then he will always be potentially dangerous if he has a weapon.

Let us remind you that those who received an administrative penalty for violating public order or for violations related to the improper use of weapons, as well as non-compliance with hunting rules, will also experience a certain type of problem. After serving their sentence, they will not be able to obtain permits for one year.

Let's look at point 3 first.

Article 24 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation establishes two forms of guilt - committing a crime intentionally or through negligence

.

If a citizen committed a crime through negligence

, has served his sentence, but
the criminal record has not yet been expunged
, then
the refusal to issue a license
to purchase weapons due to an unexpunged or unexpunged criminal record
is not legal
.

This statement is true, since the restrictions on issuing a license

, as we see from the text of this paragraph,
relate
only to unexpunged or outstanding
convictions for INTENTIONAL crimes
.

Examples of crimes due to negligence: - Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - causing death by negligence - Article 118 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - causing grievous harm to health by negligence; - Article 168 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - destruction or damage to property due to negligence.

PS Not to be confused with crimes with two forms of guilt, for example, part 2 of Article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, intentional

destruction or damage to property
resulting through negligence
in the death of a person or other serious consequences.

We buy a safe

In accordance with the current legislation, citizens are required to store weapons and ammunition in special weapons cabinets or safes with a reliable locking system installed at the place of registration of the owner.

There should be no problems with purchasing a safe. On sale you will find a lot of options of different brands, sizes and weights and a wide price range. Just make sure that your entire future arsenal, including ammunition, will fit in it. A supply of free space won’t hurt either - in the future, if you want to buy additional weapons, you won’t have any problems storing them.

For greater reliability, and also to ensure that inspectors do not have any complaints, install the safe in a non-accessible place, hidden from prying eyes, and securely fasten it to the wall.

What weapons can a civilian buy in Russia and what not?

In fact, the arsenal legally available to Russians is quite limited, both in terms of the types and number of weapons purchased. Here's what and how much a Russian can have:

• smoothbore – up to 5 units;
• sliced ​​– up to 5 units;
• gas – up to 5 units;
• traumatic – up to 2 units;
• cold hunting weapons - in unlimited quantities, if you have a hunting license and the appropriate permit for cold weapons;
• a hunting crossbow with a power of over 43 kgf, a bow with a power of over 27 kgf - in unlimited quantities, if you have a hunting license and the appropriate type of permit.

But what types of weapons are prohibited in civilian circulation in Russia:

• pistols, revolvers;
• automatic firearms;
• models whose drum holds more than 10 rounds (does not apply to a number of sporting weapons, but there are other subtleties with them);
• bladed weapons of the switch type, with automatic one-handed opening and having a blade more than 9 cm long;
• brass knuckles, boomerangs, shurikens and similar products (exception: sporting goods and products of cultural significance);
• any models of weapons that are not included in the approved cadastre.

A complete list of types of weapons that you cannot buy in Russia by default can be found in Art. 6 of the Law “On Weapons”.

Collection of certificates

OLRR will not issue you a license without providing the necessary certificates. To spend the minimum time, proceed in the following order:

Obtain a certificate form from your clinic or other suitable medical center. Then we receive a conclusion from the psychiatric clinic at the place of registration - if there are no contraindications, the appropriate mark is placed. The next goal is a drug treatment clinic: we take a drug test, receive a conclusion on form No. 003-O/u and a note on the certificate.

Then we return to the original medical center and go through the ophthalmologist. After receiving his seal, we go to the therapist, who, in his absence, issues a conclusion in form No. 002-O/u.

Obtaining a medical certificate is paid, the cost depends on the specific region. Conclusions from a narcologist and a psychiatrist are paid separately. On average, the medical examination takes 2 days. The certificate will be valid for 5 years - this is an innovation for 2021, previously its validity period was 1 year.

A certificate of no criminal record can be obtained by submitting an application on the State Services portal, indicating the necessary data, or from the Ministry of Internal Affairs by filling out the form provided.