Comment to Article 251. Illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of weapons, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan

     1. Illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of firearms (other than smoothbore hunting weapons), ammunition, explosives or explosive devices -      

are punishable by restriction of liberty for a term of up to five years, or by arrest for a term of up to six months, or by imprisonment for a term of up to five years with or without a fine in the amount of two hundred to five hundred monthly calculation indices or in the amount of the convicted person's salary or other income for a period of two to five months.      

2. The same acts committed by a group of persons by prior agreement or repeatedly, -      

are punishable by imprisonment for a term of three to eight years.      

3. The acts provided for in the first or second parts of this Article, committed by an organized group, shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to ten years.      

4. Illegal carrying or sale of daggers, Finnish knives or other bladed weapons, except when carrying bladed weapons is related to hunting, -      

are punishable by community service for a term of one hundred eighty to two hundred forty hours, or correctional labor for a term of up to two years, or arrest for a term of up to four months, or imprisonment for a term of up to one year with a fine in the amount of up to two hundred monthly calculation indices or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for the period up to two months or without it.

     Note. A person who voluntarily surrenders the items specified in this article shall be released from criminal liability if his actions do not contain elements of another crime.

     The public safety of illicit trafficking in weapons, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices is characterized by the fact that crimes related to the illicit trafficking of these items create favorable conditions for the commission of other more serious crimes involving human casualties. That is why the legislator has defined in the current criminal law a whole group of crimes against public safety that involve violations of the rules for handling weapons, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices (Articles 251-255 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan).      

The object of the crime is public safety in the field of handling weapons, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices.      

The subject of the crime in question is weapons (except smoothbore hunting), ammunition, explosives and explosive devices. The turnover of weapons in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan is regulated by the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On State Control over the turnover of certain types of weapons" dated 12/30/1998 (as amended and supplemented).      

A firearm is a weapon designed to mechanically hit a target at a distance with a projectile that has received directional movement due to the energy of explosives. It includes: machine guns, carbines, rifles, pistols, machine guns and other devices and objects structurally designed to destroy manpower, equipment, as well as sports, including small-caliber, rifled, hunting weapons, in which the force of powder gases is used to produce a shot, regardless of which for the purposes it is actually applied.      

Ammunition refers to devices and objects that are structurally designed to be fired from a weapon of the appropriate type. These include: missile warheads, bombs, mines, inactive shells, artillery, mortar, grenade launchers, hand and rocket-propelled grenades and volleys to them, cartridges for small arms, explosive packages, detonators, signaling, lighting, imitation means and other products, and assembled explosive devices equipped with firearms of the appropriate type or for the production of an explosion.      

Explosives should be understood as gunpowder, TNT, nitroglycerin, pyroxylin, ammonal and other chemicals and their mixtures capable of explosive reactions, for the purchase and storage of which a special permit is required.      

Explosive devices should be understood as objects (mechanisms) that are structurally designed to produce an explosion (fuse, detonator, fuse, etc.).     

A cold weapon is a weapon in which the means of direct destruction of a target are activated with the help of human muscular strength.      

Air guns, signal guns, starting guns, construction guns, gas pistols, rocket launchers, as well as those containing explosives and mixtures, pyrotechnic and lighting devices that are not intended for military use, do not belong to firearms, ammunition, explosives.      

Within the meaning of the law, carrying, storing, acquiring, manufacturing or selling ammunition for smoothbore hunting weapons does not constitute a crime under Part 1 of Article 251 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.      

The objective side of the crime is the illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of the items specified in art.251 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.      Illegal means handling firearms and ammunition without the permission (license) of the internal affairs body. The procedure for licensing the production, sale, transportation, and destruction of weapons is determined by the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 30, 1998 (as amended and supplemented) "On State Control over the turnover of certain types of weapons."      

The acquisition of these items should be understood as obtaining them in permanent or temporary possession in any way (purchase, exchange, etc.).      

The transfer involves the gratuitous alienation of weapons and other weapons-bearing items by their owners into someone else's possession (storage, temporary use, etc.).     

Marketing involves selling, donating, exchanging, transferring to pay a debt, etc.      

The storage of weapons and other items refers to the actual possession of these items, which are not directly in the possession of the perpetrator, but are contained in some specially adapted place (in a dwelling, outbuildings, hiding places, etc.).      

Transportation should be understood as actions to move these items. The method of transportation does not matter (by road, rail, plane, etc.).      

Carrying weapons and other weapons-bearing objects should be understood as being directly in front of the person when he moves.      

The crime is considered completed from the moment of committing any of the specified actions.      

The subject of the crime is a person who has reached the age of 16.      

The subjective side is the direct intent. The perpetrator is aware that he is committing illegal acts with objects that have been withdrawn from civil circulation in whole or in part, and desires this.      

Part 2 of Article 251 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan provides for liability for the same acts committed by a group of persons by prior agreement or repeatedly.      

A crime is considered to have been committed by a group of persons by prior agreement if it involved persons who had previously agreed to commit a crime together.      

For this crime, repetition should be understood as the commission in any sequence of two or more crimes provided for in Parts 1 and 2 of Article 251 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, if a person has not been released from criminal liability for previously committed crimes, or a criminal record for them has not been withdrawn or extinguished.      

The acts provided for in parts 1 and 2 of Article 251 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, committed by an organized group, are qualified by Part 3 of Article 251 of the Criminal Code.      A crime is considered to have been committed by an organized group if it was committed by a stable group of persons who had previously united to commit one or more crimes.      

251 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan provides for criminal liability for the illegal carrying and sale of daggers, Finnish knives or other cold weapons, except when carrying cold weapons is associated with hunting.      

The concept of cold steel was discussed earlier.      

The concepts of carrying and selling bladed weapons do not differ from similar actions considered in Part 1 of Article 251 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.      

In accordance with the notes to Article 251 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a person who voluntarily surrendered the items specified in Article 251 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan is exempt from criminal liability if his actions do not contain signs of another crime. The voluntary surrender of weapons and other items should be understood as the surrender of these items by a person of his own free will, regardless of motives.

Commentary from 2007 to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan from the Honored Worker of Kazakhstan, Doctor of Law, Professor, Academician of the Kazakhstan National Academy of Natural Sciences BORCHASHVILI I.Sh.                  

Date of amendment of the act:  08/02/2007 Date of adoption of the act:  08/02/2007 Place of acceptance:  NO Authority that adopted the act: 180000000000 Region of operation:  100000000000 NPA registration number assigned by the regulatory body:  167 Status of the act:  new Sphere of legal relations:  028000000000 Report form:  COMM Legal force:  1900 Language of the Act:  rus

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