Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 2, 1994 TAG: 9404040184
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 NATL/INTL EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TALLINN, ESTONIA LENGTH: Medium
Lithuania and Estonia now are the only former Soviet republics where firearms are legal for personal protection.
``This law, above all else, gives people the chance to protect themselves and their property,'' said Lithuanian legislator Saulius Peceliunas, who helped draft the law that went into effect Friday.
Crimes such as burglaries, armed robbery and rape are on the rise and have people scared.
``It's dangerous even to go out these days,'' said Indreks Saks, manager of the Laaman Gun Store in Estonia's capital, Tallinn. ``Guns make people feel more secure and confident.''
Critics say legalizing handguns could lead to a cycle of murder and violence, and they point to the high crime rates in the United States.
Peceliunas said that won't happen because Lithuania's law is stricter than American ones.
Crime in the Baltics has skyrocketed since they won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. In Lithuania, with a population of 3.7 million, there were 53 murders in the first quarter of 1994.
Estonia, a country of just 1.6 million people, had 50 murders so far this year and 282 in 1993, or 17 per every 100,000 residents.
That rate is much lower than Washington's 1993 rate of 77 but approaches that of New York, which has about 23 murders a year per every 100,000 residents.
When the Baltics were under Soviet rule, handguns were forbidden. Stiff jail sentences and tough police practices also contributed to much lower crime rates.
Now, guns already are available through the Russian military. Loose security and a breakdown of command among ex-Soviet troops in the Baltics have enabled soldiers to sell their weapons to crime gangs, police say.
Russian troops left Lithuania last year but remain in Estonia and Latvia, which has not taken steps to legalize handgun sales.
Peceliunas said citizens in his country have not been able to defend themselves adequately.
``If a criminal attacked you with a club, you could only hit back with a club,'' he said in a telephone interview Thursday.
Police in Estonia and Lithuania are linking most murders to organized crime. Criminals from other ex-Soviet republics are vying for control of the lucrative metal trade and stolen-car markets in the Baltics.
Saks, who always carries a gun in his pocket, said his biggest sellers to the man on the street are ``small, easy-to-use'' 6.35 mm pistols. He typically sells two handguns a day at prices ranging from $150 to $1,000.
by CNB