INTRODUCTION:
A gun licence could be a licence or permit issued by the govt authority typically by the police of the state, that allows the licensee to shop for, own, possess or carry a firearm often subject to variety of conditions or restrictions, especially with reference to storage requirements or the completion of firearm safety course also as background checks etc.
In India, the laws concerning the grant of gun licence are governed under section 3, 4, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 of the Arms act of 1959 and therefore the Arms rule of 1960 and Arms rule 2016. These Acts specify the stringent and expensive procedure for the citizens to collect the licence for possessing guns and consistent with 2016 article posted by a Washington Post, it had been stated that India could even be a country which has stricter laws than America.
Indian Arms Act allows two sorts of licences:
(1) NPB i.e. Non prohibited Bore
(2) PB i.e. prohibited Bore
WHO CAN GET GUN LICENSE IN INDIA?
Non-prohibited bore licences are often granted a person of Indian nationality who have attained the age of 21 years and just in case of a ‘junior target shooter’ the person must attain the age of 16 years and therefore the person should be of sound mind.
License is often granted for the subsequent reasons:
Arms Rules 2016, specifies special category for issuing the license namely:
- License for the destruction of untamed animals which poses a threat to person and crops.
- License for the aim of target and training purpose (The trainer must be an adult and therefore the trainee must not be below 15 years aged and not above 21 years of age)
- License for sports shooting association.
- License for shooting ranges.
- License for accredited trainers.
- License to museums.
- License to an International shooter, who come to India for Participation at shooting events, if any.
- Apart from the explanations stated above, there are other reasons to urge gun license in India:
- Self Defence: Individuals who might be susceptible to being attacked for reasons including being Wealthy, being under threat etc.
- General Security: This include provision of security for banks, institutions etc. this will also cover the gun men and protection squad of VIPs and politicians.
- Crop Protection: This includes doors who have agricultural or similar lands which require protection from non-scheduled pests and vermin, like boars etc.
- Sports Shooting: Includes those that needs guns for sports purpose.
- Returning NRI: Any Indian who is returning to India and has owned a gun in his foreign residence for over 2 years can apply for an Indian licence and convey back the gun they owned in abroad.
PROCEDURE TO BE FOLLOWED:
Before following the procedure, an individual must fulfil the essential age criteria that an individual must not be but 21 years aged, he must be of sound mind and must have a justified reason for acquiring a gun licence.
- The first thing for acquiring a gun licence is to submit an application with DCP (Licensing) of the concerned locality and after getting permission from the concerned officer, the individual can proceed further.
- Once the appliance is submitted with the police then it’ll be further scrutinised by the police that whether the information mentioned within the form like name address and other details are authentic or not. Also, alongside this, the police also will verify that the rationale stated for acquiring the licence is justifiable or not.
- After the submission of the documents the one who desires to accumulate the weapon has got to enter person for an interview with the DCP rank officer of the concerned Commissionerate where the officer generally asks about why the concerned person has applied for the weapon license and most probable answer given by the people are that due to self-defence. But at the same time, it depends upon the officer whether to approve or not because if the officer isn’t satisfied with the reason stated by the person for acquiring of the weapon then concerned officer has the power to disapprove.
- Moreover, Once the interview is completed then the officer sends the report back to NCRP (National Crime Records Bureau) and other intelligence agencies for verifying that whether the one that has applied for a licence has any previous criminal record or not. aside from that, the approving officer sometime asks the local police headquarters of the world to research about the behaviour of an individual in his/her locality in order that the person won’t use the weapon for spreading out violence or completing any illicit activities within the future.
- So once the whole process is over and therefore the officer is satisfied that the person won’t use the open for the other purpose then the mentioned one then the person gets the approval but getting an approval doesn’t mean that an individual can now get the weapon in hand.
- Now, after the gun license, the customer obviously possesses to contact the dealer for the procurement of the gun. For this, the customer will be got to book a pre-order to urge the gun from any licensed shop of their choice.
DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR GETTING THE GUN FROM FACTORY:
- Issued license with valid date and place.
- A photocopy of the Gun License.
- One copy of the NOC for the factory owner and one copy of NOC for the police authorities. just in case if the gun license is valid across whole India then no NOC is required. (NOC is Non-objection certificate)
- There is also a requirement for the transport license of the place where the factory is found.
REFUSAL TO LICENSE (Section 14 of Arms Act, 1959)
The licensing authority shall refuse to grant License if it believes that the person:
- To be prohibited by this Act or by any law for the nonce effective from acquiring, having in his possession or carrying any arms or ammunition, or
- to be of unsound mind, or
- The person is found unfit for a licence or
- where the licensing authority deems it necessary for the security of the overall public peace or for public safety to refuse to grant such licence.
References:
https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/category/experts_corner/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_law_in_India
https://www.vifindia.org/sites/default/files/The%20Arms%20Act,%201959.pdf
This article is authored by Prabhjyot Singh, Fourth-Year, B.A.LL.B(Hons.) student at Amity Law School, Noida, Amity University, U.P.
Also Read – Gun Control And the 2nd Amendment of U.S Constitution
