What to do if you find a homemade weapon and how to proceed?
What to do if you find a homemade weapon and how to proceed?
A resident of Minsk, upon visiting his grandmother in Lepel District, accidentally discovered a weapon in the attic of her house and did not know what to do with it. Even though some elements were made independently and separated from each other, this did not diminish the young man's interest.
After helping his grandmother and returning to work in Minsk, the thought of the find did not leave the young man. Upon visiting his grandmother again, he decided to do some shooting in the forest, reasoning that since he had found a weapon, he might as well use it for its intended purpose. Thus, he illegally and intentionally manufactured an item capable of firing central-fire cartridges by joining the barrel of a rifled firearm with the receiver containing the trigger mechanism, part of the stock, and the breech of the barrel with the under-barrel hook of a single-barreled hunting rifle model "IZh-K".
However, an inspector from the Lepel Inter-district Inspectorate for the Protection of Fauna and Flora under the President of the Republic of Belarus, who was in the vicinity, heard unusual shots and went in search of the shooter. The inspector caught the young man red-handed at the scene of the crime.
Consequently, the young man's actions constituted a crime under Part 2 of Article 295 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, classified as illegal manufacture of firearms, illegal acquisition, storage, and carrying of ammunition, and illegal acquisition and carrying of component parts of firearms. He was sentenced by the Lepel District Court to correctional labour.
Senior Assistant Prosecutor
Lepel District
Yu.P. Labut