Half of licensed guns in MP now ‘illegal’
Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 4:46 pm
Ill thought out, expensive and less than useless initiative as far as crime prevention goes. They still don't have a centralised nationwide database of convicted criminals! It seems, they think arms license holders (who undergo a rigorous background check before a license is issued) are a greater threat to law and order than convicted felons!!!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 811735.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 811735.cms
Half of licensed guns in MP now ‘illegal’
Ankur Sirothia | TNN | Updated: Sep 24, 2017, 11:12 IST
BHOPAL: More than half the licenced firearms in Madhya Pradesh are illegal because the state has missed the deadline for giving unique identification number (UIN) to guns.
UIN is the Centre's initiative to create a database of all licensed firearms so that owners' records can be accessed at the click of a mouse. So far, barely 2.40 lakh firearms have been given the UIN though MP has twice as many licensed guns. Having missed the deadline, the state government has written to the Centre thrice in the past six months to give it two months more. Home department officials said they are waiting for the Centre's response.
The countrywide exercise started in 2015 and was to be completed by March 31, 2016. The deadline was extended for all states till March 31, 2017. After that, any firearm without UIN is deemed illegal though the owner may have a licence, say officials.
The Centre has made provisions in the Arms Act for UIN and created a portal where details of the arms need to be registered for the number to be allotted. District police chiefs across the country have access to this portal to make UIN easier. SPs were supposed to upload the details of licensed arms holders in their respective districts and allot UIN.
Officials in the home department said the portal was 'locked' after the deadline ended and SPs can no longer update the information to seek UIN. Lakhs of firearms have been left out, they say. The necessity of UIN can be gauged from the fact that the home department could not say exactly how many licenced guns are in MP.
"Other states must be facing the same problem as it is a massive task. Majority of arms holders are unaware that such an exercise is being carried out. If the Centre gives two more months, UIN will be allotted to all remaining arm owners," said an official.