Indians For Guns

Dear IFGians

I always wonder why buying and shipping Indian Make Air Guns with in india are legal than importing the same Air guns from abroad.

For Ex: If i do online shopping of .177 calibre air guns and the company is in kolkatta wanted to shipping in chennai then it can be done and it says legal and doesn't require any legal formalities. The same calibre if i import from any foreign based air gun online shopping it requires lot of formalities to be done like club association membership, licence, etc. etc....why it is like this in india? Any way both are same calibre and mostly same power. why people?
Can any one through some light on this pls---->

You dont require any of the formalities ( club Membership etc.) for .177 cal airgun if you are ready to pay all duties.

You require the papers/ formalities only when you are asking for the Govt. Duty Exemption Facility, which is made for real sport persons only.

Regards,

Yogesh.

you are confusing between the import policy and local transport between states Both are different they never mix.

striker wrote:you are confusing between the import policy and local transport between states Both are different they never mix.

striker - i agree this is about import policy and local courier rules.but my question is end of the day im owning .177 caliber air gun even it is made in india why not from abroad? why it need so much of rules & policies to be followed to import one. why govt of india not allowing general civilians to import air guns from abroad and same govt allowing the same caliber if transported with in inda?

That's not the reason.. and dont start giving anyone any silly ideas not based on facts! Importing anything is much more difficult than purchasing and sending anything locally.. importing = international trade which has an altogether set of rules which differ from one product to another thats it! Nothing else.

jonahpach wrote:

That's not the reason.. and dont start giving anyone any silly ideas not based on facts! Importing anything is much more difficult than purchasing and sending anything locally.. importing = international trade which has an altogether set of rules which differ from one product to another thats it! Nothing else.

Briha

This can be compared with bikes & cars made in India vs imported stuff ! The imported ones ride/drive much faster, brakes more effectively, are better balanced and much superior in quality. There is always a chance of killing human beings on the road or getting themselves killed in an accident. Lately, this been happening quite often. Is the life of an animal, that too a wild one, more important than a fellow human being ? Are there not laws against killing human beings ( IPC 304 A) by rash and negligent driving? So how come we allow such fast bikes/cars on our roads ? Why are they not banned from India market ?

While we debate on this subject, Citizens of developed countries are preparing for Olympics with much superior weaponry .

nice ex. humrahi

You're welcome Ganesh TT. Glad to be of help.

There is nothing to wonder why import of Air guns is banned for general from abroad. It is Government policy and like Air gun there are thousand items including arms are banned items to import.

We can appeal to the Government department to open the sector with request and giving the data's in support to allow in the interest of sports.

what can we do?our system is like this.
i wish our people can make competent guns like the imported,so we don't depend on foreign make.i feel sad to know that small countries like korea have come out with such elegant airguns and we don't.
pathetic
regards
dr.jk

Post Independence , India has been a Socialist country where essential services are run by the Govt. Unlike a capitalist country e g: USA, which is a consumer oriented society . Indian Govt decides what is good for it's country and not concerned about the consumer as long as the product reads " Made in India ". Even though import policy has been liberalized from the late 1980's, the Socialist philosophy of Nehru has not left the party in power. Unfortunately when it comes to products " Made in India " , it has never left it's label as a third world country , with few exceptions, maybe!

Humrahi wrote:This can be compared with bikes & cars made in India vs imported stuff ! The imported ones ride/drive much faster, brakes more effectively, are better balanced and much superior in quality. There is always a chance of killing human beings on the road or getting themselves killed in an accident. Lately, this been happening quite often. Is the life of an animal, that too a wild one, more important than a fellow human being ? Are there not laws against killing human beings ( IPC 304 A) by rash and negligent driving? So how come we allow such fast bikes/cars on our roads ? Why are they not banned from India market ?

While we debate on this subject, Citizens of developed countries are preparing for Olympics with much superior weaponry .

1. Fast bikes/ cars still have to OBEY INDIAN TRAFFIC RULES - officially at least.
2. Fast bikes/ cars can be stopped (i.e. BRAKED)
3. Fast bikes/ cars from abroad also are charged import duties which are paid and are as high as 300% of the TOTAL COST (incl freight).
4. Read this thread or others on importing air guns. You have certain privileges as a competitive shooter if you are a sports-person and a registered member. These privileges do *not* extend to fast car drivers like say Narain Kartikeyan. Even the media-touted GOD named SRT had to keep his "stranger-gifted-and-I-don't-know-who-the-stranger-is" red Ferrari inside his garage and off Mumbai roads because import norms/ duties were not followed/ paid.
5. Just to take your "logic" forward - trains and planes kill more people at a time than cars - fast or slow - so do you want them banned as well ?

So can we expect better example next time ?

Imported fast bikes/cars are available in India as anyone who owns one, know it. If you don't own either of them, then obviously you don't know the facts. When it comes to following rules of traffic, Indian are among the worst offenders ! And still, the Government allows these imported cars/bikes on our road. So why not allow imported .22 cal Air Rifles ? How many human being do you know were killed by an Air Rifle in India ?

This was the subject we were discussing . Let us stick to that topic and not get carried away by giving irrelevant examples of planes and trains.

Folks,
Import restrictions is not a function of socialism, anti-gun-ism, pacifism, corruption, etc. All those can and do play a part in the decision, but the final decision is taken with a much larger aim in mind. If you remember, till 1990s, India had a foreign currency crisis and the rupee was controlled. Decontrol (partial) happened with the payments crisis in 1991, when the current PM was FM. Many decisions were taken to restrict imports to protect foreign exchane reserves. For example, a simple Bic disposable lighter could not be bought openly, but you had to go to the Chor Bazaars, Fancy Markets, and other places where grey stuff was sold. Initially, in the late '90's and early '00s, a strong grey market thrived in smuggled mobile phones, which the government nipped by slashing duties.
Every country has a list of items which cannot be imported. For example, in the former Soviet Union, consumer goods were forbidden. There are so many tarriffs governing import of agricultural products into US. Australia does not overtly ban imports, but has a quarantine system so strict, any food product would expire before getting out of quarantine!!
One of the important determinants of a EXIM policy is the political message the government wants to send. E.g. the former Soviet Union didn't want to admit that the capitalist world was churning out better toasters and better lipstick than the USSR, hence all this stuff was banned.
Another important determinant, linked somewhat to the above, are lobby groups, vote banks, etc. This is the reason the US and France, for instance, have (or had) huge tarriffs on agricultural products. Try exporting wine - any wine - to France! And this, friends, is the reason why imported airguns (not firearms, that's a different discussion altogether) are not freely available!
1. In the days of dollar shortages, airguns were deemed to be non-essential, hence were restricted, either overtly or covertly.
2. When we had enough dollars in the national coffers, we - the airgunners - didn't lobby well enough to get our babies on a "preferred list".
3. Let's face it - we are too small a group to matter. India is not the USA - no NRA 800-pound gorilla here!!! Most gun owners are very happy with the status quo (fortunately there are enough of the other kind, hence we have IFG, etc.). We are neither a vote bank nor a lobbying group. So why, pray, should we claim special status?

As an aside, airgun_novice is not that way off comparing guns and cars. The fact that Indians are bad drivers (as well as bad pedestrians) is no reason to ban any kind of cars. Do we have statistics to prove whether Indian cars kill more or imported versions (of course, we hear about the accidents involving imported vehicles, because they usually involve celebrities or billionaires!)? And sir Humrahi, does the ownership of an imported car / bike have anything to do with the knowledge of rules? If so, then why are we discussing imported airguns, unless we own them? Yes, I can get an imported car, any make, any cost - but I have to pay 300% basic duty + additional duty + cess and so on! Similarly, I can get an airgun within the dealwood test limits, only thing is - I have to shell out the additonal moolah for the sarkar aka vampire to take, unless I have memberships, etc!