While Michael Bloomberg and the national Democrat party are working to restrict your rights and mine to keep and bear arms for self-defense, Russia (!) of all places liberalized their gun laws to allow gun ownership for self-defense in late 2014.  Nowhere have we found an article on any problems with the new laws expanding gun ownership for the law-abiding in Russia.  Carry licenses have been issued to those who have passed background checks and had some training.  Those licenses will allow for open carry and concealed carry.

Prior to late 2014, Russia has the sort of gun control that Bloomberg’s Demand Action and the Brady Campaign to Ban Handgun Ownership would like to see:  heavily regulated gun ownership only for hunting and sport shooting.  With a population half that of America, Russia had a homicide rate that’s three times ours (think Chicago on a national scale).

Not surprisingly, civilian gun sales in the former Soviet Union member nation Ukraine have skyrocketed as well, but for other reasons, no doubt.

Here’s a story from December 2014 on the change:

Vladimir Putin’s Russia Adopts Concealed Carry

(TownHall) – It’s beginning to border on the surreal. We’ve talked to great lengths about the inversion of international influence between the US and Russia. Under President Obama we have seen America’s command of world events sink to an unrecognizable (and quite embarrassing) level, while the Bond villain in the Kremlin has taken control of international conversations. And then, there’s this from the IBTimes:

Russia, which according to official figures has the fifth highest murder rate in the world, has relaxed its gun ownership laws.

Yep. The land of Vladimir Putin, run by an oligarchical collection of cronies and criminals, is about to relax their gun laws… And not by just a little. After the reforms, they’ll make some US jurisdictions look positively Soviet. While places like New York and Washington DC continue to make it (almost) impossible to get a permit for carrying a handgun, Putin’s Russia is about to make it easier.

Previously, Russians were only permitted to own firearms (subject to approval) for hunting or sporting. But under the new law they will soon be allowed to carry guns, open or concealed, for the purposes of self-defense. (Yeah… A background check and training will be a prerequisite.)

And let’s face it, having a gun for self-defense is probably not the worst idea in Russia. While America saw its share of homicides in 2011 (roughly 13,600), Putin’s homeland saw far more… Despite having a population that is almost half of the US, Russia recorded over 21,000 homicides in the same year. (Wow… So much for believing that gun control works, right Chicago?) The new laws aim to curb that trend, and add to Russia’s homeland defense against outside threats.

Of course, IBTimes was quick to point out that 80 percent of American homicides are “gun related.” (As if it was the gun’s fault that someone decided to kill a rival gang member.) So, let me give this some perspective: 80 percent of America’s homicides are “gun related”… And yet we still manage to have almost a third fewer murders than a big-government (generally anti-gun) nation on the other side of the world. Russia is hoping to curb some of their violence by liberalizing the restrictions on firearm ownership, and concealed carry. And our Mike Bloomberg clones stateside are doing just the opposite.

In short: Russia will soon be a little less like Chicago, and a little more like Texas. (Ha… Can you imagine Putin in a cowboy hat?) Vlad even endorsed the idea, by channeling a 20^th century Chicago gangster:

“You can get a lot more done with politeness and a weapon than with politeness alone.”