Gun article in the Times of South Mumbai edition

[amk]

Hi,

Last week I saw this article and today wrote to them the below quoted mail. All of you please mail them your thoughts, respectfully please.

http://www.mumbaipluses.com/downtownplu ... ments=true

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Comment/Information on article:

Down the Barrel
Posted On Friday, October 02, 2009 at 12:17:44 PM
The Times of South Mumbai section

Hello,

Last week I read the above mentioned article and have a few comments regarding it since the subject matter is close to my heart.

The article started off well and kept me interested until it reached the third last para where it mentioned that the sale of assault rifles and self loading guns was making (more) money. Now if the article implied self loading long guns (rifles/shotguns) then I have to inform you that the sale and possession of these is virtually impossible for ordinary civilians. A license cannot be issued to a civilian for these except under extremely rare (and practically impossible) circumstances.

Sporting/Legal gun enthusiasts in our country can only ever dream of handling one of these guns. Of course I am talking about legal ownership of these. I believe from media reports that the sale and use of these illegal guns is not so difficult.

As far as the legal licensed NEW revolver and pistol trade is concerned, it's just like the NEW double barrel gun (shotgun) trade; ZERO. This is because the import of firearms has been banned since 1986 in our country for some strange reasons, except under rare and exceptional circumstances. One way to get out of buying 25 year old licensed firearms for civilians is to purchase a new Indian Government Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) product of terrible quality and exorbitant pricing. Yes, the OFB has a virtual monopoly over the sale of new civilian guns; these are not fit for the purpose they were designed for and are often dangerous to the handler. Moreover, the OFB sells them at over 12 times the cost of production. When I say new I mean it is freshly manufactured and one has to wait for almost a year after making a booking, however the design and the manufacturing techniques are decades old, usually copies of war time guns.

As to the fact that DBGs (as your article refers to them) are only in use by bank security and are a dying breed; nothing could be further from the truth. In the absence of a NEW gun market, the sale and sporting use of second hand DBGs is large, might I dare to add that it's larger than the revolver/pistol market.

If it's possible I would very much like to arrange a meeting between you and fellow gun enthusiasts from the "Indians for Guns" (http://indiansforguns.com) movement which can lead to some article/s explaining clearly the sporting and licensed guns scene in India. As was rightly said, the PEN is mightier than the SWORD.

Warms regards
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[Vikram]

AMK,

The journalist was writing a curio/special interest topic and that's all to it.There wasn't an effort to educate himself about what he was writing.But, sadly,pieces like these do not need too much compliance with facts.Thank you for writing an informative and congenial letter to them.Right thing to do and no reason or purpose served in being angry with them.

Best-
Vikram

[Virendra S Rathore]

Gentlemen,

Totally agreed, well done.
I guess it was right (in fact necessary) to be heard on that occasion.
I deem it better the more eyes this movement comes under.
Off-course, more scanning eyes implicates more pressure but that's how the battle has to be fought eventually .. in the open .. horns-locked.

I'll be glad to do my part.
BTW, how is the GFI initiative going?
I had applied for the membership, fulfilling subscription requirements but haven't heard back yet.
Are any mods listening ?
Pardon my ignorance if any, coming back after a gap.

Regards,
Virendra