One more reason to start rejoicing at the end of the year. Kyrgyz members of parliament were allowed to possess and carry guns. To be precise, MPs allowed this to themselves – the veto of the president on possessing guns was bypassed in the Kyrgyz parliament as the law ‘On the status of parliament members’ was being amended.

As one of the deputies mentioned in the interview to the Public Rating: ‘the idea itself was dwelling on the fact that recently there have has been a number of attacks against our colleagues. We don’t feel safe any more and that’s why we badly need to ensure that we do have some kind of protection’.

This was yet another step towards turning Kyrgyz parliamentarians into a privileged cast.
It should be stressed that Kyrgyz parliamentarians have been discussing issues of their own security for several months in the breaks between different rallies. On the one hand, one can be sympathetic: the situation in the country is far from being stable and it feels more secure when you are aware that if things go wrong you can just use your pistol.

On the other hand it’s not only MPs who are endangered. Does it mean that everyone will get a slack and be allowed to carry all kinds of guns?

The latter will probably not happen. Safety of the electorate is not in the agenda of Kyrgyz parliamentarians today. It is law enforcement bodies that are supposed to be taking care of that on the regular basis. When there is a free time the Ministry of Interior will be dealing with assigning guns to MPs for the period as long as life time, which means that even when the term in parliament is over ex parliamentarians will be able to enjoy the privilege of shooting, say, birds. Or someone else.