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Recent shooting at wedding party in Moscow triggers Duma's response

On September 30 shots were fired from a wedding motorcade which had been moving up Tverskaya street in Moscow center

MOSCOW, October 24 (Itar-Tass) — A public uproar caused by the recent shooting at a wedding party in downtown Moscow triggered a response from the State Duma which suggested worse sanctions for unauthorized shooting and breaching the law.

A bill submitted to the State Duma on Wednesday by Duma Vice-Speaker Sergei Zheleznyak and his fellow deputies from the United Russia envisages punishment for shooting in residential areas administered either in the form of a fine worth 50,000 roubles with the confiscation of the firearm and revoking a license to weapons possession for 5-7 years, or an administrative arrest up to 15 days. If such offences are made by a culprit in a state of alcohol or drug intoxication this should be regarded as aggravating circumstances, Zheleznyak said.

On September 30 shots were fired from a wedding motorcade which had been moving up Tverskaya street in Moscow center. Police stopped the motorcade at the intersection of Tverskaya and Mokhovaya streets. Around 15 people were brought to a police station where police protocols were filled for violation of the rules of the use of sound signals and windscreen tinting.

Police confiscated a pistol from one of the wedding party’s guests who was charged a fine worth 2,000 roubles. A Magistrate court sentenced the "sniper" to 15 days in jail; another "guest" in the wedding motorcade who offered resistance to police was jailed for five days.

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