Guns in India

FishyJay sent me a link to this wonderful article in the Washington Post about guns in India, a topic we've discussed before.

In the land of Mahatma Gandhi, Indian gun owners are coming out of the shadows for the first time to mobilize, U.S.-style, against proposed new curbs on bearing arms.

When gunmen attacked 10 sites in Mumbai in November 2008, including two five-star hotels and a train station, Mumbai resident Kumar Verma sat at home glued to the television, feeling outraged and unsafe.

Before the end of December, Verma and his friends had applied for gun licenses. He read up on India's gun laws and joined the Web forum Indians for Guns. When he got his license seven months later, he bought a black, secondhand, snub-nose Smith & Wesson revolver with a walnut grip.

This sounds like the same reason many people choose to arm themselves in the States, fear and paranoia. This guy Verma may have as little need for a gun as many other people who become so concerned with their powerlessness, so afraid that the frightening moment of lethal threat will someday come, that they decide a gun is the answer.

The gun rights organizations are the first ones to encourage people in this thinking. The gun manufacturers are behind it too. Before you know it accidents, suicides and murders are up. Then because of the murders, more people decide they need a gun. The cycle continues on and on until the baleful results become so undeniably obvious that even the most rabid gun lover will be compelled to admit that guns are bad news for everybody.

What's your opinion? How long do you think it'll be before my prediction is realized? I say, depending how it goes after McDonald, two or three years.

Please leave a comment.

Gun Laws in India

Meri News ran a story about the history of gun laws in India. What I found fascinating besides the Indian-English style of writing is the similarity of the arguments to those in the United States.

After putting an end to mutiny of 1857, British viceroy Lord Lytton (1874 -1880), brought into existence the Indian Arms Act, 1878(11 of 1878);an act which, exempted Europeans and ensured that no Indian could possess a weapon of any description unless the British masters considered him a "LOYAL" subject of the British Empire. Father of Nation M.K.Gandhi referring to Arms Act of 1878 remarked "Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest" (page 238, My Experiment with Truth, M K Gandhi).

After a lengthy description of modern laws which have left the Indian people disarmed still, the author presents these ideas.

Many may say,'What difference will possessing arms make?'. The right answer to this question could be perfectly answered by ones logical mind. On 26/11, even if 10% of the crowd at Taj Hotel beared arms, there wouldnt have been a human slaughter! The simple reason being atleast 50% of the 10% arms owner would have had the guts to shoot-down the terrorist. It has been one complete year for 26/11 event and still our Indian Government are busy requesting quotations from foreign arms manufacturers.

Although we have a few "well-known" shooters in India (on state/national level) only a few make it to the Internationals. Why? The reason being stringent gun laws. Today, if a professional shooter is to import a "air-gun" , he/she has to go through the whole officials hierarchy just to acquire the permission ! Believe it or not , Indian made "air-guns" are good for level 0-1 only , ammunition and shooting range charges excluded . If one decides to take the shooting sport professionally , he/she has to think it twice (from money/time aspect).

It has always been talked about guns affecting the crime rate of a country, but never ever has it been thought, to take an effective action on illegal arms trade, which in turn will reduce the crime rate itself. A fact never known to the law abiding comman man, is that, these criminals posses pistols/revolvers which are as sophisticated as a .44 magnum, whose one bullet is sufficient to take down a 85kg healthy man. Whereas our Indian police use the same old Service Revolvers/Pistols , which malfunction when they are needed the most!

Legally armed citizen, in fact can help government to curb the crime and fight militancy.There have been many instance in country where citizens snatched weapons from criminals/terrorists and foiled their designs thus preventing loss of life and property. In one such incident,reported from Jammu and Kashmir, a girl not only killed one militant commander but also scared others to run for their life without doing any harm to her family.These results can be optimized by helping these citizens getting armed with adequate knowledge and arms as they have full right to protect their life and property,after all they are law abiding citizens of this country.

Fascinating, isn't it? What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.