VIRAB HAMBARDZUMYAN

Lecturer at Yerevan State University,

Department of Criminal Law

DOI: https://doi.org/10.59546/18290744‑2026.1‑3‑135

Annotation.

The methodology for the examination of cold weapons lacks both scientific and legal value. The structural distinguishing characteristics of cold weapons established in the relevant standards are outdated and artificial and do not allow for an adequate differentiation between weapons and household items or other objects posing a public danger. From the perspective of threats to human life and health, such characteristics are not of material significance, and no forensic criterion, in and of itself, is capable of determining the actual level of an object’s public dangerousness.

In this context, foreign experience is more consistent with contemporary trends and challenges. The successful localization and implementation of foreign legal regulations into domestic legislation would make it possible to neutralize the problems and risks identified within the scope of the present research.

Based on the results of the research conducted within the framework of the article, it is proposed to decriminalize the carrying of cold weapons, to remove the existing legal regulations concerning cold weapons from the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On the Regulation of Arms Circulation,” and, at the same time, to introduce a new corpus delicti in Chapter 35 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia establishing criminal liability for carrying, in a public place, a knife (with the exception of a folding knife with a blade or edge length of up to 60 mm), a knuckle‑duster, a club, a baton, or any other cutting, piercing, striking, or crushing object.

The research conducted within the framework of the article also demonstrates that the legislator, by treating the commission of an offense through the use of an object or means specifically prepared or adapted in advance for inflicting bodily injury as an aggravating element of the offense under the current Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, has, in comparison with the former Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, unjustifiably narrowed the substantive scope of the said qualifying circumstance.

In light of the foregoing, it is also proposed to revise the wording of the aforementioned criminal law provision.

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