Owning a licensed gun to be easier

[Kunal Biswas]

Owning a licensed gun to be easier

NEW DELHI: It will be soon easier and quicker to get a licensed arm. The Union home ministry has begun work on amending the 55-year-old Arms Act to, "make it in tune with the times" and make the process of granting arms license "simpler and people-friendly", a top home ministry official told ET.

The number of documents required to be supplied for applying for an arms licence will be reduced from nearly two dozen at present and a timeperiod will be fixed in which the government must decide on an application, the official added. At present, there is no time-limit specified within which a person should get an arms licence, triggering numerous complaints of governments sitting on requests for months together.

"The Act is very old. Many representations have been received by the government on the Act. The home ministry will bring the Arms Act Amendment Bill, 2015, in the next Parliament session," the official said. The Arms Act, 1959, and the Arms Rules, 1962, will also be amended to factor in the major policy change in the last budget that hiked foreign direct investment in domestic arms manufacturing from 26% to 49%.

Domestic arms manufacturing in India by private firms is negligible. "Licences to private manufacturers for arms have not been given for a long time. The government wants to open manufacture of prohibited bore as well as non-prohibited bore arms to private parties. The industrial license regime for private firms is being simplified under the amended rules," the official said.

At present, only 95 private firms have licences to manufacture single or double barrel guns, while three private firms were granted permission to manufacture different kinds of arms after FDI to the extent of 26% was allowed in the sector in 2002. Yet another government official said a national online database of arms licences will also be set up on the lines of the system set up in various states, including Punjab.

The Centre will, however, ensure that applications for grant of arm licences may be considered only from persons, who may face or perceive grave and imminent threat to their lives, for which the licencing authority will obtain an assessment of the threat faced by the persons from police authorities.

Read more at:
Owning a licensed gun to be easier & quicker now, Home Ministry begins work on amending Arms Act - The Economic Times

 

[ezsasa]

@Kunal Biswas any idea if 50 cartridge purchase limit will remain.

 

[Spindrift]

This is just a sham, mainly the because of the following clause:

The Centre will, however, ensure that applications for grant of arm licences may be considered only from persons, who may face or perceive grave and imminent threat to their lives, for which the licencing authority will obtain an assessment of the threat faced by the persons from police authorities.