Think tank: If each of us carried a gun . . .

[Gansan]

in short you can't get any decent one in less then 70k (IOF) and 1.5 and above for imported old guns which are in circulation at very high premium.

OMG!

I expected it to be expensive, but 70k - 1.5l for a handgun? Can we get a bank loan with the gun as collateral?
But seriously, how do IOF products compare with imported ones? When I Googled the prices for some popular brands I was surprised by the $$ prices quoted. Absolutely meaningless prices in India

[penpusher]

This was in todays Indian Express

"Move to simplify procedure for issuing arms licenses Navjeevan Gopal,Bathinda,Feburary 11

The centre is proposing to simplify the procedure for the issuance of arms licenses to reputed citizens,professionals,businessmen,industrialists and officials of security agencies.Interestingly the move is aimed at "enabling citizens to combat terrorism and fight terrorists"

The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked chief secretaries/home secretaries and DGPs of all states and union territories to provide information on certain clauses relating to the issuance of arms licence in their areas.......

........The officials were asked whether there is a scope for liberalising the Arms Licensing Policy in view of the current security scenario..."

[penpusher]

I thought this would have merited greater attention considering the 'noise' made by many about changing the current set up

[mundaire]

This was in todays Indian Express

"Move to simplify procedure for issuing arms licenses Navjeevan Gopal,Bathinda,Feburary 11

The centre is proposing to simplify the procedure for the issuance of arms licenses to reputed citizens,professionals,businessmen,industrialists and officials of security agencies.Interestingly the move is aimed at "enabling citizens to combat terrorism and fight terrorists"

The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked chief secretaries/home secretaries and DGPs of all states and union territories to provide information on certain clauses relating to the issuance of arms licence in their areas.......

........The officials were asked whether there is a scope for liberalising the Arms Licensing Policy in view of the current security scenario..."

Interesting, very interesting indeed! A move in the right direction, but still smacks of "elitism" - note the use of the word "reputed citizens", as if anyone who would fall into this category is being denied a license even today! The system needs to be reformed to remove arbitrariness, and make the entire process transparent with only objective criteria being applied - no "subjective evaluation" whatsoever at all.

That is the only way it would change anything at all, else it'll just be a old wine in a new bottle

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[penpusher]

Abhijeet,

I did not have the time or the patience to type out the whole article but it attributes this move to representations received by the MOH.Perhaps it is time to draft our own as well.

[goodboy_mentor]

I would request the link related to "Move to simplify procedure for issuing arms licenses" of Indian Express. Yes I agree "reputed" citizen clause is open to interpretations of individuals. "We shall overcome...red tapism.....one day........."

[eternalme]

Please post the grievances at http://grievance.nic.in/Netizen/ARPGN.A ... evance&WCU hope the government hears.

[Anand]

Unlike a "renowned shot" there is no clear definition of who qualifies as a "reputed" . The logic used by some bureaucrats would be, "since a license is a privilege it should be discretionary".
While I want to say that any movement in the direction of a more liberal issuing of licensing is a move in the right direction, this discretionary/arbitrary issuing is wrong and creates more inequality than there is already.
Perhaps they fear a situation of a civil war or over throw of the government, or perhaps a situation as it exists in Pakistan/Afghanistan. I know this was one of the reasons for the promulgation of restrictive firearms law in UK right after World War II.
Considering there are so many illegals in India,perhaps they are taking the easy way out.... disarm all civilians and make them totally dependant on the Government, but what they fail to see is that the illegals will find illegal weapons no matter what the licensing requirements are for us poor fools. An objective analysis of statistics of crime rates where the use of a licensed firearm as against police/armed forces firearms must also be done to change this mindset. But...
Regards,
Anand

[BJL]

I went to go post a grievance on that site. Except, now I have another grievance- the damn site doesn't work. Irony of ironies.

-- Fri Mar 27, 2009 2:45 pm --

Found one that works. http://www.pgportal.gov.in/