ARMED AND FRIENDLY
[5 May, 2007 TIMES NEWS NETWORK]
In this series, we cover unusual groups that are bound by a common passion. This week,Sharmila Ganesan meets a society of armed Indians
On April 16, when a sullen English literature student named Cho Seung-Hui shot dead over 30 students and teachers at Virginia Tech, a scattered network of Indians silently cursed him for very personal reasons. Cho had given people like them a bad name. They went to the net and wrote passionate pieces, all in support of humanity but with an unmistakable defence of that romantic thing called the gun. "Guns don't kill people, people do," wrote Inderjeet Singh, a software professional. He is part of a nationwide group that includes pilots, businessmen and ex-army personnel. Here, every member has a gun. In fact, they are bonded by the common love for the weapon.
For over a year now, these gun enthusiasts have been meeting on an online forum called Indians For Guns. IFG, as the members like to call it, was started by Delhi's 34-year-old entrepreneur Abhijeet Singh when he couldn't find India-specific shooting information online. He then decided to post his own copy of the Arms Act on his personal website and got a lot of queries for help from other gun owners. That was when he set up the IFG yahoo group which later developed into a dedicated website. It now has about 250 members from all over India, mostly in the age group of 35 to 55. Besides, there are also several enthusiasts from US, UK and other countries who post here because of their love for India. In fact, two of the five moderators of the group are based abroad. "It's their way of helping out fellow Indians," says Singh, who started shooting at the age of eight. He owns about four to five pistols now and has participated in various national level competitions.
GUNS AND POSES The members of Indians For Guns meet regularly online as well as in the real world
From the very beginning, Singh made it clear that this was a serious group, "unlike Orkut communities". Here, every bit of information related to guns, ammunition and gun laws is vetted for its accuracy by gunsmiths with over 40 years of experience. Two dreamy teenagers who lied about owning 'submachines' (illegal in India) were asked to leave the group. Singh has added a strict code of conduct along with some moral lessons which include guidance on the appropriate language. "If you won't say it to your mother or grandmother, don't say it here," is one such lesson. When the members want to insult or swear, they have to find solace in sarcasm. A typical rude remark in this community would be mean rather than abusive. Like, "You won't get far by saying that you have a rifle with which your grandfather shot a rogue elephant who leapt 20 feet in the air."
When they speak about guns, these men sound like wineglass-holding connoisseurs in an art gallery. For them, names like Purdey and Beretta mean works of art. Pune's Zubin Postwalla, who manages a travel agency, still remembers the aroma of gun-oil wafting through his dad's room soon after he successfully opened his gun cabinet. Eventually though, the realisation of what these works of art are capable of, is a humbling feeling for the bunch. The very act of shooting can be the ultimate form of self-control. "If I pull the trigger,
and the bullet doesn't go where I wanted it to go, I alone am at fault. I have to practise self-control when I shoot, there is no point in losing my temper when I miss, or in blaming the gun, bullet or sights. I simply have to take a deep breath and try again," says Abhijeet.
Occasionally, IFG members meet outside the web forum, in the real world. Members from Delhi and Bangalore take trips to shooting ranges once in a while. Since that manly thing called hunting has been rendered illegal, the enthusiasts satisfy themselves by shooting clay pigeons or fishing. On these trips, they make a lot of fun of each other, like men usually do. And in between the jibes, they keep exchanging curious facts like how the American town of Kennesaw is also called gun city because of an ordinance in 1982 that made it mandatory for every head of household to own a firearm, and how this ordinance was in response to the town of Morton Grove banning the possession of handguns.
The members of the IFG probably dream of heavens like Kennesaw. Secretly, many of them long to be in Africa, "where you can shoot anything," as a member says, or in the US where you don't need a licence to get a gun. India makes them feel like deviants. In the same country where, the members say, even Gandhi endorsed gun ownership, they have to grapple with a perpetual politically incorrect status. "Owning a firearm in India is falsely associated with having bad intentions or being fabulously wealthy," says 25-yearold Zubin Postwalla, who owns air-rifles and a double barrelled shotgun. Actually, it helps being wealthy if you love guns. Prices in India are dictated by a demand that is many times the supply. "Guns cost 10 to 20 times more in India than the US. For instance, a Walther PPK .32 cal pistol which sells at $ 800 in the States, costs anywhere between Rs 4 to 5 lakh here," says Postwalla.
Even so, a healthy bank balance is only half the battle won. Barring a certain category of target shooters, Indians are restricted to one handgun, one shotgun and one rifle. Getting an arms licence means wading through red tape and some serious palm-greasing. "In some parts like UP and Bihar, the only way to get a gun licence is to undergo a vasectomy," says Asif Ali, a doctor, about one of the abnormal incentives used by the state governments for population control. These ownership laws of India, says Abhijeet, find their roots in colonial times when the Raj wanted to keep Indians from procuring arms. Only the loyal subjects of the empire could get a gun.
A bitter joke in the community is that "if someone is a law abiding gun owner, he is treated as a criminal. If he owns illegal guns, he becomes an MP." The issue of licences to persons of dubious character at the behest of crooked politicians has wounded the pride of traditional gun owners. "The government is busy rewarding criminals while the licence procedures assume that we are potentially guilty even if we have a valid reason like self-defence," says Abhijeet. Firearms need serious revisions of existing laws, he says. To be eligible to import a target grade weapon, one must qualify within the top 25 or 50 target shooters in that category. "But how will budding shooters qualify if they don't train well? They have to borrow the guns to train today."
Inevitably, there are comic situations. A year ago, after Bangalore's Mack The Knife Bana bought a rifle, he had taken it to the Arms section at the Commissioner's office to have it endorsed on his licence. The clerk held the rifle, looked it up and down and asked, "Is this a shotgun or a pistol, saar?" Mack The Knife says, "I can understand if he was unsure about it being a rifle or a shotgun but mistaking it for a pistol really knocked me for a six." There are very few women on IFG, but the men insist it has nothing to do with the perception that the gun is a male toy. "Anybody can pull a trigger," says Inderjeet Singh. In fact, they say women are known to be better shooters. But the jolly old IFG boys don't seem to miss their presence too much. In a way, they prefer guns to women. "At least, you can buy a silencer for a gun," someone says. TNN
ADMISSIONS OPEN
Membership is free and open to all
To register, visit http://www.indiansforguns.com or email Abhijeet Singh on [email protected] Women are especially welcome
(Readers who are aware of unusual groups may send in their suggestions to [email protected])
Now, this is an opportunity for our women members to come here and pull the mens' legs. 
Kudos to Abhijeet and Moderators and Congratulations to all members of IFG.
