Indians For Guns

State seeks SPs’ views on changes to gun laws
HT Correspondent PROPOSAL Union home ministry makes draft that is signed by 108 MPs
Rahul Noronha
Hindustan Times (Bhopal Edition) - 11 March 2014, Page 4

BHOPAL: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) proposes to make wide-ranging changes in the Arms Act and has circulated a draft of the amendments seeking the opinion of state governments on the same.

The MP state home department has circulated the proposed amendments that plan to liberalise gun laws in India, to district SPs seeking their views on 12 points pertaining to the amendment. The state government’s views are to be sent to the MHA at the earliest.

However, a call on the amendment will now have to be taken by the new government at the centre after the elections.

The proposed amendments include scrapping of the 3-weapon ceiling clause, allowing one person to have as many weapons as required, doing away with the area validity clause (which means all licences issued would be of all-India validity) and scrapping of the once-in-3-years renewal clause (making licences valid for a life time).

Other proposed amendments include permission to import one weapon from abroad in a lifetime by a licence holder, allowing unlimited ammunition to be possessed by a licence holder, introduction of a preamble in the Arms Act and licensing authority to explain reasons
why licences are denied to applicants. Through the amendments, the MHA aims to do away with what it feels is arbitrariness in the licensing procedure.

The proposed amendment is signed and supported by 108 MPs of the outgoing House. The process of amending the Arms Act has been on for more than two years.

The MHA had in May 2012 sought the views of the MP government and had pointed out that the opinion of the state government be sent by the end of the month. It had also pointed out that by then only 9 states/UTs had responded. The state government in January 2014, finally sent the proposed amendments to SPs for their comments.

Sources said that the amendment was pushed by MPs after the previous union home minister P Chidambaram brought in an Arms Policy that aimed at severely restricting the use of firearms.

This enraged MPs who were of the view that the move by then home minister amounted to bypassing Parliament as any change in the Arms Act should not be done without discussion in Parliament and after having been passed in both Houses.

“The proposed amendments are welcome, especially the import and renewal clause. The control on number of weapons or ammunition should not be there for sportspersons. A reasonable duty can be imposed on imported weapons,” said Bhopal Rifle Club president Aruneshwar Singh Deo.

PROPOSED CHANGES
- Scrapping of the 3-weapon ceiling clause
- Doing away with the area validity clause
- Scrapping of the once-in-3-years renewal clause
- Permission to import one weapon from abroad in a lifetime by a license holder
- Allowing unlimited ammunition to be possessed by a license holder

Centre cites ‘reasons for amendment’ to Arms Act
Rahul Noronha
Hindustan Times (Bhopal Edition) - 12 March 2014, Page 2

BHOPAL: The Union government has come out with ‘reasons for amendment’ stated by the ministry of home affairs (MHA) in support of its proposed wide-ranging changes to the Arms Act, 1959. The state home department has sent the proposed amendments to the SPs in the districts seeking their comments on it.

One of the proposed amendments aims to introduce a preamble in the Act which states that “it is essential to ensure easy access to firearms for training and ordinary civilian use and create a class of people whose services can be requisitioned by the state
in national emergencies”.

In the reasons stated for getting rid of the 3-weapon cap, the MHA states holding one, two or three weapons has no bearing on the
crime rate of the area and, hence, the cap should be done away with. The home ministry also proposes to allow import of one firearm
by a licence holder. Justifying its stand, the MHA says the second-hand arms market has no bearing on reality. The arms that are
available for a few hundred dollars abroad are sold for as much as `5 lakh or even `10 lakh to 15 lakh.

The dealers selling these arms under invoice state that a handgun sold for `5 lakh is shown as sold for `15-25,000, thereby creat-
ing a sink for black money. The MHA states that arms sales are proving to be an even bigger sink for black money than real estate.

In its defence to scrap the area validity clause in the arms licence, the MHA terms this a part of the strategy adopted by the British who were worried that license holders may rendezvous at a point and pose to be a challenge for the colonial empire. There is no need to continue with this provision and all licenses should be all-India validity.

The proposed amendments include deletion of section 14, sub-section (3) of the Act which allows the licensing authority to not state the reason for denying an arms licence to an applicant. The said section states, ‘unless in any case, the licensing authority is of the opinion that it will not be in public interest to furnish this information’. The reason for amendment cited by the MHA for the section states even in the age of RTI, there is a great deal of subjectivity and favouritism in giving licences.

The amendment would make it mandatory for licensing authority to disclose reasons for rejection.

On the proposed amendment to allow unlimited ammunition for licence-holders to train, the MHA says presently, they are unable to
train properly in the absence of adequate ammunition allowed on their licences. On the proposed changes for doing away with the
renewal every three years, the MHA states that it would take away a lot of burden imposed on the police. The power to suspend
and cancel licences will remain and act as a deterrent, MHA added.