Importing Arms & Ammo into India

[partheus]

Apologies, I overlooked Mundair's entry on the first page regarding how renowned shot's can only import 1 weapon for their competition. That being said, I read another article on the subject - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/spor ... 514835.cms as per which the ministry for youth affairs and sports relaxed this terms in 2010.

Extract from the article:

"A Committee under Joint Secretary (Sports) examined the existing procedures and decided to liberalise them. The orders to this effect has been issued by the Ministry, yesterday."

Under the new guidelines, the No Objection Certificates required for an import license and the Custom Duty Exemption Certificates will no longer have to routed through the ministry.

"A renowned shooters may be allowed to approach the Regional Authority of Director General Foreign Trade (DGFT) directly after obtaining the recommendations of National Rifles Association of India.

"The present practice of MYAS issuing 'Custom Duty Exemption Certificate' may be dispensed with and a suitable provision may be made for automatic grant of custom duty exemption on the basis of self-certification by the renowned shooter along with the documentary evidence in respect of import of weapons/ammunition."

The Ministry also revised the quota of custom duty exempted ammunition for top shooters.

"15,000 cartridges per year (For renowned shooters participating in one event), 20,000 cartridges per year (For renowned shooters participating in two events) and 25,000 cartridges per year (For renowned shooters participating in more than two events)," the ministry said.

The Ministry said top shooters can now also import upto five custom duty exempted weapons.
"Renowned Shooters may be allowed to avail of Custom Duty exemption for only five weapons, at any point of time. In case, he holds more than five weapons, on which he has availed Custom Duty Exemption, the limit imposed thereafter of five weapons, will exclude the weapons that have completed the minimum usage time prescribed in the import licence.

"As such, import of weapons beyond the limit of five weapons shall not be eligible for Custom Duty Exemption. Further the overall ceiling imposed by the Ministry of Home Affairs on holding of weapons will apply," the statement said.

Again, no mention of the nature of the weapons, or how this fits in the "other weapons" category which renowned shots are entitled to.

[mundaire]

What exactly is your question?

[partheus]

I think it slipped to the last page

I was wondering if a certain number of weapons can be imported under sports quota, then are they restricted by caliber or gun type? I mean, if a shooter managed to attain a renowned shot status for pistol shooting (.22 for example) and has a license for said firearm, then can he/she import handguns in any NPB caliber now that they are a renowned shot, or will the weapon and ammo need to be only of the caliber the shooter uses in their competition.

In the article in my previous post, it is stated renowned shots are allowed to purchase up to 7 guns under their license - 4 for their chosen sport and 3 "other" weapons. I cannot find any info on what this other weapons category covers, and whether these can be imported duty free as well under their license.

The above article states sports shooters can now import 5 firearms. But again, nothing on whether all of these should be the same weapon type and caliber they are using for their sport.

I guess what I am trying to figure out is - is there really a well defined difference between sports guns and self defense guns in the rules? Match grade weapons are usually different from regular ones to the best of my knowledge, so ideally, a sports person should only be allowed to get the former.

Couldn't a renowned shot easily import a PMR 30 since its .22, if caliber is all he/she needs to be concerned with. If they were restricted by gun type, then even a Sig P320 in 357Sig would be legally importable, since its a NPB handgun, wouldn't it?

Will appreciate your views on this.

Thanks!

[mundaire]

First on IMPORT:
When someone qualifies as a renowned shooter in ONE discipline - in a given year - then he is permitted (on completion of required paperwork) to import ONE firearm (duty free) for said discipline. If he qualifies again next year, he can (on completion of required paperwork) import another, so on and so forth.

If he qualifies in another discipline, the same logic would be extended to allow him to import a firearm suitable for that discipline.

What firearms can be imported?
You are right, most disciplines require very specialised equipment and these are quite different from the usual sporting firearms. However, the main point is - do the rules allow the use of usual sporting firearms for that discipline? In many cases the ISSF rules do, so the renown shooter would be well within his rights to choose to import a sporting firearm as he can use it for shooting sports, if he chooses to do so.

To elaborate on your example, if a person qualifies in say rapid fire pistol or standard pistol (both are shot using .22 LR pistols), then he would be eligible to apply for a .22 LR pistol import. On the other hand if someone qualifies in centre fire pistol, then he would be eligible to import a centre fire pistol/ revolver of calibre up to .357/ 9mm (excluding 9x19 aka 9mm para which is not allowed as per ISSF rules).

Of course all imports are subject to prior approval by NRAI, to whom one needs to apply for import permission after qualifying in the Nationals.

Licenses:
Every citizen of India is eligible to legally own/ possess a maximum of 3 firearms (subject to licensing), see Section 3 (2) of the Arms Act 1959. This provision has been relaxed for renowned shooters, to allow them to own an additional 7 firearms - over and above the usual limit of 3 - thus a renowned shooter may own up to 10 firearms.

In the case of Arjuna Awardees, they are allowed to own & import an unlimited (theoretically) number of firearms. Why do I say theoretically? Well, because, while they may have the permission to own as many firearms as they may choose, they still have to BUY THEM and almost everyone has a fiduciary limit on the amount of money he/ she can afford to spend on a hobby.

BTW, the news article you have linked to is an old one and AFAIK, things have changed further (for renowned shooters) since then. Since I am not a renowned shooter, I haven't bothered to delve deeper into what fresh changes have been made (I hear they are mostly positive).

[partheus]

Thank you, Mundaire. That's what I was wanting to know.

Just so we are clear though, when you say a renowned shot may purchase up to 7 weapons, can all of these be imported as well? Or is there a different import limit for them?

Another thing just occurred to me was if a person acquires a renowned shot status in multiple disciplines, then do the limit of weapons they can buy/import go up as well? So if a person was to become a renowned shot under both center fire and rim fire competitions, then will this mean they can now purchase/import 20 weapons?

Thanks and please do pardon my curiosity and persistence on the matter, none of this seems available elsewhere.

[mundaire]

Import - one per year, per discipline qualified in. To import again the next year, one must qualify again that year.

Licenses - 4 additional per discipline qualified in (over and above 3 entitled to normal citizen) SUBJECT TO a maximum cap of 10.

[Mikkar]

Hi,
I am green card holder in United States.
I want to get a NP bore pistol to India with anyway which is better and easy.
So, Please help me in this matter.
Thanks,
Mikkar Singh Kang

[goodboy_mentor]

Hi,
I am green card holder in United States.
I want to get a NP bore pistol to India with anyway which is better and easy.
So, Please help me in this matter.

Arms Act 1959 is not interested to know if you have green card. When you bring pistol or revolver, it will be confiscated by Customs unless you have been issued arms license for the same. Whenever you get arms license issued, the pistol will be given to you by Customs. So unless you are transferring your residence, pistol was already owned by you and confident of getting arms license, just forget about bringing the pistol unless you want it to remain in custody of Customs. Since .32 pistol/ revolver ammunition is commonly available here so if you decide to bring .32 pistol/ revolver makes sense. This entire matter has been discussed in great detail in this thread as well as some other threads, please read them. If any specific question remains or the matter is unclear feel free to ask.

[Mikkar]

Thanks a lot
But
I want to make sure about category,
Which is better to me

[goodboy_mentor]

I want to make sure about category,
Which is better to me

Unable to understand what is your question. category? better to me? .32 pistol/ revolver ammunition is usually easily available here. If you want some other caliber make sure if it's ammunition will be available to you at affordable price. You can contact the gun shops to verify, the contact details are available in yellow pages section of this forum.

[Mikkar]

Actually, My question is
How can Import pistol from US to India ?
Which is better way "Transfer of residence or sports"
??????

[goodboy_mentor]

Actually, My question is
How can Import pistol from US to India ?
Which is better way "Transfer of residence or sports"
??????

1. Get license for import from DGFT and license for possession under Arms Act 1959
Or
2. Follow the process for transfer of residence and license for possession under Arms Act 1959

Getting license for import is next to impossible thus simply forget it.

Unless you want the pistol to remain forever with the Customs, properly understand the rules in details to follow for transfer of residency, it may work. For details search this website many have done it in the past.

May explore the option of .327 Federal Magnum because it can also fire .32 cartridges. You may keep .327 cartridges for self defense and practice using .32 cartridges.

[rahulbdelhi]

Hi GBM,
I have a similar query. Is there any way I can apply and get a fire-arms license in Delhi from US ? This way I would be able to bring back my rifle without leaving it in customs' custody and running around for a license on returning back?

[goodboy_mentor]

Is there any way I can apply and get a fire-arms license in Delhi from US ?

License is based on legal status of residency. It means if your legal residency status for residence is not in Delhi but U.S.A., you cannot apply from U.S.A.

[rahulbdelhi]

Too bad. Thanks for the clarification anyway.