The Seimas of Lithuania (Parliament) has approved this Thursday a series of amendments to the legislation on the purchase and possession of weapons and has prohibited Russian and Belarusian residents who do not have Lithuanian citizenship from accessing ammunition, weapons or accessories for these .
A total of 112 parliamentarians have voted in favor of this new restriction, while another thirteen have abstained and one has voted against, according to a statement released by the Lithuanian Parliament itself.
The new Arms and Ammunition Control Law, which will enter into force on April 1, 2023, also specifies that Russians and Belarusians who do not have Lithuanian citizenship must sell their weapons “no later than one year” and, then they will lose their licenses.
Another of the approved amendments will allow private arms dealers to supply certain types of ‘category A’ weapons in order to resolve a contradiction in which the population could have this type of weapon but had no one to sell it to.
“We can learn one thing from the war in Ukraine, that the state will effectively resist when the whole nation, the whole society joins the fight against the aggressor, but it is necessary to prepare for it,” said Parliament Vice President Pauilius Saudargas. .
