MPs have proposed that the Verkhovna Rada replaces criminal liability with administrative liability for possession of weapons for self-defense and its unlicensed production, said Head of the Holos parliamentary faction, one of the authors of the bill, Oleksandra Ustinova.

"It's abnormally when, in the third year of the full-scale war... having a weapon at home for self-defense or producing, let's say, drones for our military is a serious crime, according to our legislation. This must be changed. What does the bill propose? Move the relevant articles of the Criminal Code into the Code of Administrative Offences," Ustinova said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.

According to her, instead of three to seven years in prison for owning a pistol or assembling an FPV drone at home for the Armed Forces of Ukraine without a license, it will be possible to get by with an administrative fine.

Ustinova recalled that on March 11 she and 16 MPs registered a bill that proposes to decriminalize the illegal possession and production of weapons and thereby normalize the exercise of the right of citizens to self-defense (bill No. 11073 on amendments to the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses and the Criminal Code on ensuring the unity of norms in the implementation of the right to self-defense and decriminalization of weapons production).

It is proposed, in particular, to remove Articles 263 and 263-1, which provide for unlicensed storage and manufacture of weapons with imprisonment for a period of three to seven years.

According to the authors of the bill, investigations under these articles do not provide a law enforcement function, since they are always formal, without establishing criminal intent for the production or handling of weapons. In addition, they are duplicated in the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses (Articles 164 and 190). Their exclusion from the Criminal Code will not lead to impunity for handling weapons (for this, the code provides other articles – Articles 201, 262, 410, etc.)

The authors of the bill proposed that criminal liability, which is provided for in Articles 263 and 263-1, is replaced with an administrative one, including confiscation and fines: from 50 to 150 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens (UAH 960-2,280) for the acquisition, storage, carrying or transfer of weapons without the appropriate permission; from UAH 17,000 to UAH 34,000 with confiscation of items of the offense and income from activities for the manufacture, processing or repair of weapons without a license.

"I really hope that this bill will find support because we cannot now punish people for not committing any crime, but, in fact, helping the military who are protecting their family," Ustinova concluded.