Legalizing handguns would cause 'greater problems', says presidential chief-of-staff Budanov

Budanov talked to journalists on the sidelines of the Kyiv Security Forum.

"I have always been against this and I say it again: against simply legalizing it to give weapons to people. It has never worked and [now] will not work either. Don't forget that it always has two sides. The first is supposedly imaginary protection. The other side is that the number of cases that everyone saw a few days ago, with such a configuration, could become many times greater. It will simply be with everyone. This threatens much bigger problems than what is there now," Budanov said.

He emphasized that the police and special services in Ukraine must work effectively.

"How it happened that a person who served in a place that everyone knows, lived here for a long time, also had a permit to own a weapon is also an interesting question," Budanov said.

He believes that there is a systemic problem in Ukraine, the consequences of which are being observed today. In particular, regarding the responsibility of law enforcement officers for using weapons on duty.

"Remember when there were bad cases of the use of weapons, everyone remembers, in 2014. Everyone was found guilty. This is understandable and could not have been otherwise. But how did this affect those who started serving further? They do not use weapons, because the consequences will be terrible. Then, remember, patrol police was created. And almost immediately there was a case when patrol officers were chasing some civilian car, and they started shooting at the wheels. What happened to the patrol officers? They were convicted. There are thousands of such cases. Why does everyone think that with such a system, when the state does not protect its own defenders, these defenders will do their job to the end?" Budanov said.

He called for a "balance" where society complies with the demands of law enforcement officers and the law enforcement officer has "clear boundaries."

"Everyone here likes to cite Western countries as an example. I like the example of the United States. There you can't tell a police officer: 'What's the reason for stopping me?', curse them, or start doing something. This will end the use of weapons and he will be recognized as 100% right," Budanov said.

Background

Tthe issue of granting civilians the right to own short-barreled weapons for self-defense is again being actively discussed in Ukraine against the backdrop of the terrorist attack in Kyiv on April 18, where a gunman killed seven people.

The patrol police, who were the first to respond to the incident, faced a wave of criticism for the "shameful" and ineffective response of two of their officers. In particular, eyewitness video captured the moment where the officers ran away from the gunfire instead of opening fire in return.

The police leadership explained that the police officers were not oriented on the spot, because one of them has only been on duty since 2024, and the second patrol officer, who was brought in for reinforcement, usually works in the apparatus and was on duty due to a staffing shortage.