Hindustan Times full page feature on gun owners

[xl_target]

You're quite correct, Winnie. I apparently did miss a few points there. My apologies.

[essdee1972]

Great article! Thanks a lot!!

The quotes speak volumes about the attitudes amongst the sarkari gang. I liked the one about "the day all hell breaks loose". Is this an admission of misrule? A confession that the government has pushed the aam aadmi to such an extent that "all hell might break loose" anytime?? To extend what WTP says, Bastille Day redux with owners of heirloom weapons leading? Would have been funny if it weren't so tragic!

Cheers!

EssDee

[rraju2805]

Great .. . .
Awesome. .
Thanx a lot Tc. ..


But , if you informed some days ago , I can collect this paper. . . .

[TC]

Great Job, TC!
It's good to know that everyone in the press is not biased against us.
Is there any way that we can read the article online?

Thanks XL. I am a pistolero first and reporter later....

Had to do this. Had been feeling the itch for quite some time.

Regards

TC

[TC]

you can read it here sir http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

Varunik, I do not find words to thank you. I thought of uploading the whole text but was not sure whether that would be appropriate.

Regards

TC

[TC]

Great work TC
Thanks to varunik for the readable format..... !

Thanks Renjith 747....

The pleasure is entirely mine.... Like your avatar...

Regards

TC

[TC]

TC,

Nice effort but in keeping with 'You can not please everybody' I do have an issue with this

" To enforce the ban on hunting and contain crime and terrorism, the Union and the states have been forced to tighten regulations on ownership of firearms since the early 80s"

and the lack of any rebuttal to this

“With illegal firearms infiltrating metros and towns and crime and terrorism on the rise, the police will always want to ensure that weapons in the hands of private citizens are kept at a minimum. A weapon in every home would mean that the police would be outgunned the day hell breaks loose. We have to use extreme caution while granting a licence and that is why there is almost a blanket ban on import of weapons from abroad since 1984,” said a state home department official.
“Yes, this extreme caution does lead to denial of licence to people who fail to provide any convincing reason for keeping a firearm. Even if one sites threat to life or property, we have to be convinced,” the officer added.

Winnie I completely agree with you. But a senior journalist with a national daily also has certain compulsions. What I can write or discuss here cannot be replicated verbatim in the newspaper specially when this is part of a series on heritage and legacy (the next two features were on vintage/ classic cars and rare books in private collections).
But I did made my point... Didn't I ?
Hope you will appreciate the spirit of the feature.
Regards

TC

[TC]

Fantastic work TC!! You've been MIA for a while (on the forum), probably one of the best comeback posts ever!!

+1 @ Thanks to varunik for the readable format..... !

@ WTP - unfortunately these attitudes amongst the police are all too common. I remember a detailed conversation I had with a dear friend, wherein he had pointed out the fact that - as & where licensing has been taken out from the hands of the revenue deptt./ administration and handed over to the police, the number of licenses issued every year (in that jurisdiction) plummets to almost nothing. Our police force is still structured & trained as a "colonial police force" with the basic ethos of keeping the populace "in check" and NOT a police force with the primary objective of helping citizens & controlling crime. Numerous commissions have come, spent public money, made reports and disappeared into oblivion, but no positive police reform has taken place since independence!

Cheers!
Abhijeet

Thank you so much Abhijeet.
I have not exactly been MIA... just lying low under work pressure.. Have plans to write on RKBA but in a way that will not prompt my editor to fire me... and at the same time keep our forum members happy... Now that's a tough job given the way our masses feel about guns. Give me some time..

Thanks for the appreciation

Regards

TC

[nagarifle]

great one keep it rolling

[TC]

For the first time, I've seen a positive report about gun owners in newspaper.
Bravo TC, you accomplished something that no other reporter has managed to.

Thanks Priyan... as I told XL, I am a gun buff first and journalist later. Most reporters impart wrong information on gun related issues because of ignorance and, I feel sad to say this, the outlook of most editors. I could write a lot of things here because I have gone up the ladder over the years. Hope you understand.

Regards

TC

[airgun_novice]

Great .. . .
Awesome. .
Thanx a lot Tc. ..


But , if you informed some days ago , I can collect this paper. . . .

you can read it here sir http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
[SNIP]
Regards
TC

@rraju2805 -> This link would probably give you current (today's) paper. Please choose Kolkatta Edition from the LHS and then go to calendar and set the date to 22nd April, 2012 to get that day's paper. The page is under Metro Special (pp2). It's in absolutely readable format. Hope this helps.

Good article TC. Can understand that you have to work keeping various "sensitivities" in mind. However, a periodic article every now and then might enlighten the readers and help shift public and administrative opinion towards the *right* direction. Good Luck for your sustained efforts in future.

[TC]

What I liked, TC was that you didn't give us your opinion, just facts.
All those comments about reasons for granting a license, etc. were quotes.

Far too many reporters confuse their own opinions with "reporting". I think it was an effort well deserving of applause.

Thanks XL,

Given my association with guns over more than 35 years, it would have been a disaster if I had given my personal opinion. I just penned facts and, in the best possible way, wanted to make it evident that those who own guns are men of honor and it is the government that frames laws to bracket them. To make this aspect emerge clearly before readers I divided the article in three parts. I am quite sure you noticed that.
HT is not American Rifleman. It is a just a daily newspaper where opinions and grievances of readers are limited to the "letters to the editor" column. I had to be cautious so that I may write again on the subject without raising eyebrows. After all, almost everybody in my fraternity seem to believe ( ha ha ha !!) that I sleep with a pistol under my pillow !!

Regards
TC

[TC]

Great article! Thanks a lot!!

The quotes speak volumes about the attitudes amongst the sarkari gang. I liked the one about "the day all hell breaks loose". Is this an admission of misrule? A confession that the government has pushed the aam aadmi to such an extent that "all hell might break loose" anytime?? To extend what WTP says, Bastille Day redux with owners of heirloom weapons leading? Would have been funny if it weren't so tragic!

Cheers!

EssDee

Thanks essdee,
The officer ( as a matter of fact I talked to three of them) actually narrated details of riots and political violence during which people had (and I know this for sure because I have seen the evidence) used guns and rifles legally purchased against licence. When the officer used the words, "hell breaks loose" ... he was talking of communal violence. For the sake of the subject I decided not to use the words. Hope you will appreciate my right to exercise discretion.

Ragards

TC

[rraju2805]

I am a pistolero first and reporter later....

superlike . . .

[TC]

Thank you Ishan kumar gupta, Haji, Baljit, Rraju2805, Airgun novice and of course Nagarifle,

I am humbled. Will try to keep the spirit high.

Regards

TC