September 27, 2007 Statement We will respond to the change of government and Operation “Successor” (the Kremlin’s managed transfer of power) by arming the people! Political events once again show us that Russia’s ruling elite is interested in nothing but its own pathetic squabbling, in which one set of crooks replaces another. This is no longer even a fight of bulldogs under the carpet, but pigs at the oil trough. ** Once again, we have been convinced that the ruling clique does not care in the slightest about the citizens of Russia, to whom no one intends to explain any of these reshuffles. In the most disastrous part of the government—the силовой bloc (security and law-enforcement agencies)—we see no changes at all. Apparently, this is a reward to the special services for rising crime, theft, violent robbery, and ethnic cleansing directed against Russians in the North Caucasus. The state is not only unable to protect Russia’s citizens. It is not even trying to do so. Meanwhile, the multimillion-strong army of corrupt police officers and security-service personnel is more a threat to public safety than its guarantor. No one but ourselves will defend us. The Russian national liberation movement “NAROD” calls for the immediate legalization of short-barreled firearms. We must cast aside absurd prejudices and stereotypes such as “Russians are not mature enough for legal gun ownership” and give citizens the opportunity to exercise the constitutional right to self-defense. The experience of other countries shows that legalizing short-barreled firearms has led to a significant reduction in crime. And this applies not only to developed democracies, but also to former Soviet republics. We must remember: when gun ownership is a crime, only criminals have guns! Behind all the false arguments made by state law-enforcement officials who oppose the legalization of civilian firearms lies one thing: they understand perfectly well that armed people are far harder to enslave than unarmed ones. We call on all political parties, during the 2007 election campaign, to state their position on this issue and give the millions of supporters of “short-barreled firearms” the chance to vote accordingly. Our slogan: Weapons—to the people! **Ser*gei Gulyaev, co-chair of the “NAROD” movement Alexei Navalny, co-chair of the “NAROD” movement Zakhar Prilepin, co-chair of the “NAROD” movement *Campaign video by NAROD in support of legalizing firearms
