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Putin orders swift clampdown on use of weapons after Kazan school shooting — Kremlin

The problem is that sometimes hunting weapons are registered as small arms, which in some countries are used as assault rifles, the spokesman explained

MOSCOW, May 11. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has handed down an order to swiftly tighten the rules of using weapons in the wake of the school shooting in Kazan, in Russia’s Tatarstan Region, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

"[The Russian president] handed down a special order to [Head of the Russian National Guard Viktor Zolotov] to hammer out a new regulation on the types of weapons, which may be for civilian use, and which may be in the possession of citizens, including the types of small arms, which the gunman used," Peskov specified.

"The fact is that sometimes, hunting weapons are registered as small arms, which in some countries are used as assault rifles, and so on. This too will be swiftly hammered out by the National Guard," Peskov said. The new regulation is aimed at eliminating this contradiction.

According to the National Antiterrorism Committee, at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday an armed attacker opened fire at school number 175 in Kazan and has been detained. A counter-terrorism operation is underway. Eight people died and 20 others were injured in the shooting, the press service of Tatarstan’s President Rustam Minnikhanov told TASS. The gunman was identified as a 19-year-old young man, who had a license for possessing arms. The Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case into mass murder after the tragedy.