MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/. The number of legal arms owners in Russia has decreased by one million since 2010, which is due to the improvement of the criminal situation in the country, Svetlana Ternova, Chief Expert of the Russian National Guard’s State Control Department, said.

"While in 2010 there were 5,234 million registered firearms owners, now there are 4,267. The overwhelming majority of people who refused to possess firearms took this step voluntarily," Ternova told a news conference on Friday.

"In most cases, people see that the criminal situation is improving and do not think that they need to continue possessing firearms," she explained.

According to Ternova, people are ready to refuse to possess gas pistols on a mass scale. "While refusing to own them, they do not purchase any new ones. Perhaps, they believe that they no longer need such arms," she noted.