In our country, the possession and carrying of weapons by civilians is a very common occurrence. If we do not take into account the optimistic forecasts of law enforcement agencies regarding the reduction of crime, then periodically sounding shots and incidents with the death of people from gunshot wounds would be a completely natural phenomenon.
The use of numerous types of weapons by various categories of citizens for the purpose of self-defense is subject to strict statistical accounting. Today in our country there are more than 7 million officially registered units of firearms, and therefore the task of the authorities is to ensure maximum control over the rules for wearing and using a deadly arsenal. Otherwise, falling into the hands of people who do not meet the requirements of the law will cause alarm and panic in society, and therefore may lead to serious consequences.
Do I need to get a license when purchasing weapons?
The issue of civilians having weapons has a lot of pitfalls and additional nuances. In accordance with the general rules, any traumatic weapon in the house can be stored only when a special permit is issued. For individual units belonging to the category of equipment of lesser danger, it is permissible to purchase and store without first having to go through a special procedure.
Without a license and registration it is allowed to purchase weapons of the following types:
- flare guns;
- pneumatic revolvers, rifles, pistols with muzzle energy up to 3 J;
- revolvers and cartridges (maximum caliber 6 mm).
What threatens illegal possession, carrying and use of weapons?
The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation implies liability not only for the storage of weapons, but also for their illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, transportation, as well as the carrying of ammunition. If such a crime is committed, a citizen faces one or more of the following types of punishment:
- imprisonment for up to 4 years;
- forced labor;
- restriction of liberty up to 3 years;
- arrest for 6 months;
- payment of a fine.
By the way, for illegal possession of weapons may come not only criminal liability. Administrative punishment is applied to the offender if he illegally acquired, saved or used hunting, smoothbore and other types of weapons with a limited radius of destruction. 
For example, the possession of hunting weapons becomes illegal when the funds are stored secretly or in a room not intended for this. Such premises include service and residential buildings, garages, sheds, utility and other buildings. Permission to store weapons can be obtained not only by individuals, but also by legal entities. Moreover, the instructions regarding the rules of saving the arsenal contain the main condition - to prevent the use of weapons by third parties.
As an administrative offense, a storage violation based on the omission of the validity period of permits can be considered. Avoiding problems is easy enough: in advance, i.e. one month before the expiration of the license, care should be taken to renew it. Illegal storage of weapons (traumatic, smoothbore or gunshot) in case of expiration of the license is punishable by a fine or confiscation.
How to store a gun or other weapon at home?
To preserve and secure the arsenal, law enforcement agencies strongly recommend saving weapons in a safe at the place of permanent residence or actual residence. In addition, in order to guarantee minimized extraneous access to weapons, it is extremely important to pay attention to the following points:
- the safe must be constantly locked;
- the keys to the safe should be kept out of public access;
- exclude the possibility of hacking and protect the weapon from uncoordinated actions of third parties with the help of an alarm system, reliable combination locks, an armored door in the room
By the way, the possession of weapons is allowed to foreign citizens, but subject to the acquisition on the territory of Russia and for a period not exceeding 10 days. 
In addition, for the legality of the content of the arsenal, you must have all licensing documents. If a weapon is found or obtained, its appropriation is also prohibited. In the near future, a citizen should contact the law enforcement department to transfer funds to the unit’s employees.
Safes and weapon boxes
Any type of arsenal equipment must be left where the safety of its contents and safety will be guaranteed one hundred percent. Weapons can be stored not only in the safe, but also in metal, wooden crates, upholstered with iron and having high impact resistance, fire resistance. However, this does not end with the requirements for the placement of firearms and traumatic means. Among the principles of content, compliance with which is mandatory for all categories of citizens, it is worth noting separation of storage. In particular, in separate compartments are distributed:
- powder;
- the devices themselves (pistols, rifles, shotguns, etc.);
- cartridges (“blank” should be sorted and separated with pyrotechnic, tear and containing irritating components);
- rare, collectible, artistically decorated weapons should also be stored separately.
How to choose and install a safe for your home arsenal?
To equip a room for saving weapons in accordance with safety standards, first of all, it is worth taking care of the functioning of the fire alarm. If it is impossible to install it for any technical reasons, a safe with a weapon is attached to the wall with steel bolts, the thread diameter of which should be at least one and a half centimeters.
Proper attachment of a cabinet or safe with a weapon will prevent it from tipping over, especially after opening the door. Storage for weapons devices and ammunition can be built into the wall for ease of use, which is suitable for both cottage and apartment type premises. For reliable storage of weapons and ammunition, additional locks, grilles and boxes experts recommend installing on doors, window openings. The types of common safe locks that minimize the likelihood of unauthorized access to weapons require more detailed consideration:
- mechanical devices - you can open and close them by entering a numerical code combination;
- key - the most affordable lock options for a safe;
- electronic - open the door after passing a certain identification of the owner (for example, fingerprints or retina checks);
- contactless code - block access to the safe and its contents through a voice command;
- combined - the most expensive, but having the highest level of protection locks, which include at least 2 types of the above.
What should I pay special attention to when choosing a safe?
The rules for storing weapons include standards for the selection of safes. It is believed that any metal cabinet with a wall thickness of at least 2 mm can provide complete burglar resistance and fire resistance.Moreover, it is made by the owner on his own or made to order, does not matter. It is worth noting the low quality of factory-made safes made in China.
If you believe the reviews, breakage of locks of such devices occurs during the first years of operation. In addition, the system of protection and security of these cabinets behind the scenes bears the status of the most low-quality and easily crackable. Users recommend that you do not pursue savings in such serious security issues and purchase safes from trusted manufacturers (domestic, German, Italian, etc.).
As for the interior of the safe, the weapons storage should have the necessary compartments for placing ammunition and fixing devices directly for firearms that ensure the immobility of the gun, rifle, gun, etc. Special recesses are usually made at the bottom of the safe - a stock for the butt. In this case, the material of the fixing elements does not matter. The internal arrangement of the metal cabinet must have sufficient functionality and practicality for the owner of the weapon, so the number of vertical shelves and partitions, removable or stationary lodges for savings means is determined by the customer.
Norms of law and rules for the storage of firearms
Meanwhile, at the legislative level, an approximate layout of the location of the weapon safe in the room has been determined. Cabinets and drawers intended for storing firearms are installed farther from the front door, but no closer than 150 cm from the entrance opening. Observe a half-meter distance from the windows. In addition, you should not install a safe with ammunition near heating appliances.
The best place to store weapons, or rather, a safe with it, would be disguised. To place a cabinet in full view of unauthorized persons is undesirable. Here are options for placing a lot of storage: from the simple fastening of the cabinet inside the wardrobe to the installation of the structure in the bathroom, veiled under the box for bath accessories. The built-in weapon safe is hidden from prying eyes with the help of interior elements: paintings, wall-mounted TVs, photographs and other decor items.
How not to fall for the tricks of law enforcement and avoid a fine?
To date, the obligation to carry out periodic checks on compliance with the rules for the storage of weapons by citizens has been entrusted to the internal affairs bodies. In particular, the inspector can come up with an unscheduled inspection to make sure that the permitted weapons are indeed kept in the correct conditions, and apart from the owner, none of the households have access to the safe.
Sometimes law enforcement officers resort to special tricks to make sure the storage of smoothbore weapons, as well as pneumatic or firearms, is reliable. For example, the most common way is to try to verify the correctness of the arsenal's savings during the absence of its rightful owner of the house. The inspectors, knowing that he is not at home, ask the present family members to show the weapons in order to verify their availability, integrity, and compliance with the registered license plates. That is, employees provoke a relative to the offense, who must refuse the request, referring to the inability to access the safe. Otherwise, if the trick of law enforcement has worked, and the relative opens the safe, the weapon is seized and a protocol of an administrative offense by the owner is drawn up. In principle, all residents of a house or apartment are required to know about storage rules, so there is nothing wrong with such, albeit provocative, checks. Yet weapons are a very serious thing.
The competence of inspectors and district officers includes the right to:
- inspect weapons and ammunition in places of their savings;
- to seize the discovered funds in the absence of permits for their storage;
- withdraw weapons in case of violation by the owner of the placement standards;
- seize weapons for the period of inheritance.
The owner is responsible for the storage and use of weapons.
It is worth noting that upon the transfer of ownership of firearms as an object of inheritance or gift, the owner at the same time does not acquire the right to store, carry or use it. In order to fully exercise your right, you should take care in advance of passing the relevant procedures and obtaining licensing documents. 
When changing a permanent or temporary place of residence, the owner of the weapon is required to register it and register it with the local department of the interior.
Some paragraphs of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation contain sanctions in case of careless storage of weapons. Article 224, in particular, prescribes criminal liability for the grave consequences of negligence of the owner, which entailed death or illness, in the form of a fine or arrest.
Unfortunately, the sad consequences of illegal possession of weapons are known. Control over the correct saving and wearing of pneumatic or firearms is the broadest front line for power structures. But the imperfection of the mechanism for fully monitoring violations of the conservation of weapons, ammunition and other ammunition and a shortage of personnel do not allow regular inspections. In this sense, violent acts and crimes with the use of weapons can be prevented by armed citizens themselves, who must be aware of the decisions made, because they are the ones who are responsible for the conservation and use of weapons.
What documents are needed to obtain a license for the storage of ammunition and weapons?
Obtaining permission to store weapons in the Russian Federation of any type is quite simple. To use this service, you must pay the state fee, apply for a permit by contacting the regional center of the licensing and permitting department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, or send an application in electronic form. To obtain a license to save and carry weapons, the applicant will need the following documents:
- passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation;
- licenses for the purchase of pneumatic or firearms with marks of jur. person-supplier;
- technical passport of the acquired tool;
- control shooting protocol;
- medical certificate form 046-1;
- photo of the applicant.
The application will be considered for about 2 weeks. In some cases, obtaining permission to store and carry weapons may be refused. The most common causes are:
- provision of false data;
- lack of a license to purchase weapons;
- expiration of its validity period, which usually does not exceed six months;
- other circumstances specified by law.
The license is obtained at the territorial police department at the place of residence. The main conditions for issuing permits for the storage of weapons are adulthood, the availability of permanent registration and the absence of administrative penalties for the last calendar year. 
In addition, an obstacle to obtaining a license is the applicant's previous conviction, as well as the presence of certain diseases. To purchase a hunting rifle and register according to the established procedure, you will have to issue a hunting ticket. You can apply for this document to the department of state bodies of nature management and environmental protection. After obtaining permission to carry and store weapons, the owner can legally.