Lithuania's interior minister pushes to ease rules on police firearm use

Lithuania's Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas has proposed changes to the rules governing when law enforcement officers may use firearms. Speaking to TV3 news on Monday, he said the requirement that danger be "unavoidable" should be dropped, leaving only the requirement that a danger exists. He also wants to restore the option of firing a warning shot, which is currently not permitted under the legal framework.

Katelynas explained that a warning shot could act as an intermediate step between other uses of force and firing a firearm as a potentially lethal weapon, possibly deterring a suspect and avoiding the need to shoot altogether. He stressed that using a firearm should remain a last resort, applied only after other measures have failed.

The debate intensified after reports of a July incident at the Kapčiamiestis border guard post, where around 20 foreigners allegedly attacked officers during a detention attempt. Officers were forced to retreat, and the migrants, some of them handcuffed, fled into Belarus.

Under the current Law on the State Border and Its Protection, firearms and explosives may be used only in exceptional cases where it is unavoidably necessary and where physical or psychological force has failed. Katelynas argued that the "unavoidable" threshold is often judged only in hindsight, during investigations conducted after someone has already been killed or injured, and that investigators cannot fully grasp the split-second pressure faced by the officer at the time.

The minister said the government wants a broader, systemwide reform covering not just border guards and police but also intelligence agencies and the Special Investigation Service, with clear criteria for firearm use and legal protections for officers. He noted that officers who use firearms currently receive no legal protection, social support, or psychological counselling. Amendments are expected soon, and Katelynas urged parliament to act quickly, noting the matter extends beyond the Interior Ministry's sole authority.

The proposal comes as Lithuanian courts hear high-profile cases involving officers' use of firearms, including a murder case against a border guard accused of fatally shooting a fleeing driver, and a case in which the Supreme Court in May acquitted a police officer who had fatally shot a woman.