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Law on firearms in India; A study of Arms Act, 1959.


After the illustrious revolt of 1857, the British rule in India came under fear that similar insurgence in future would eventually lead to the end of colonial era from India. Illegal and unauthorized weapons like guns, rifles etc., had been brought into play in the revolt thereby compelling the British to bring into force the Arms Act of 1878. This new law ensured that no Indian would be allowed to possess any weapon unless the government was convinced of his/her loyalty to the Crown. This law was revoked after 12 years of independence in 1959.

Presently, the law on firearms in India is governed by the Indian Arms Act, 1959 (as amended upto date), which prescribes the guidelines to possess guns/rifles etc. The purpose behind this enactment was to curb the threat of illegal possession of weapons which could possibly create threat of violence. Further, Arms Rules, 1962, were laid down under which the manufacturing, selling, possessing, import-export and acquisition, alongwith transport of arms and ammunition without obtaining a valid license is completely banned. Any contravention to the provisions of Arms Act attract strict penalties in the form of imprisonment and fine which are provided in Chapter V (Section 25 to Section 33) of the Act. In judicial proceedings, generally charges are referred to as 25/54/59 Arms Act or 27/54/59 Arms Act, where "54" and "59" are often confused as sections of the Act.  However, this is not the case as the Act consists of only 46 sections and "54" and "59" denote the number and year of passing the Act i.e. Act no. 54 of 1959.

Arms Act, 1959 

The Arms Act categorizes firearms into two classes: 
1. Prohibited Bore (PB); 
2. Non- Prohibited Bore (NPB): 
Bore is the thickness/diameter of the bullet or you can say the hole in the middle of a barrel through which the bullet comes out.

A Non-Prohibited Bore weapon includes arms like guns of calibre 0.32, 0.35, 0.22 and 0.380. Any individual can apply to obtain an NPB as per the procedure prescribed under Chapter- II and Chapter- III of the Arms Act of 1959. A Prohibited Bore weapon includes pistols (9 mm) and handguns of calibre 0.38, 0.455 and calibre 0.303 rifles. It also includes semi as well as fully automatic guns.

After the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the Indian Government allowed those civilians to apply for prohibited bore license who are apprehended by imminent threat to their lives or those who reside in terrorist- prone areas, or government officials who have made themselves targets in front of terrorists by nature of their job, or MPs or MLAs, or of persons associated with anti-terrorist activities or their family members. Prior to 2008, Prohibited Bore weapon license was available only to defence forces personnel and family heirs. By an amendment of 1987, only Central Government was empowered to grant license for Prohibited Bore. 

The production, sale, import and export of such arms and ammunition is regulated by the Indian Government which has monopolized such activities through Indian Ordinance Factory. The Indian Ordinance Factories throughout the country are directly controlled by Defense Ministry of India.   

How to apply for an Arms license? 
Getting a firearm in India is a hectic exercise. The stringent laws on firearms have made it extremely intricate for an ordinary citizen to possess a gun. The entire procedure to obtain a firearm is prescribed under Chapter- III of the Arms Act, 1959.
  • The primary requirement towards owning a firearm in India is that the individual must be minimum 21 years of age. An application form for the same has to be filled by the applicant where the form requires details of the criminal antecedents of the applicant. A license to own and possess a firearm is granted on three basic conditional requirements which are sports, protection of crops and self-defence. In order to obtain a license under self-defence category, the applicant must prove an imminent danger to his and his family’s life. 
  • In addition to above, details of the applicant like proof of identity and address, proof of age and education, photographs, income tax returns, certificate of good character of the applicant from appropriate authority, alongwith physical and mental health certificates, are also required. 
  • A police verification detailing out the background check of the applicant including interview of the applicant and his family members, verification of the mental health/behavior of the applicant from locality members, any history of aggression, behavior or violence, is also carried out in order to ascertain the criminal antecedents of the applicant. 
  • After recording the interviews, they are forwarded to the Criminal Branch of Police and the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) for record keeping. An interview of the applicant is conducted by licensing authority where reason to approve or reject the license is stated.
  • After the approval of license, the applicant has to compulsorily participate Arms Handling Course where handling of the weapon including firing and transporting skills are imparted to the applicant. 
  • The firearm license has a life of 3 years and the same has to be renewed after the expiration of 3 years. 
Vide latest reports and recommendations by various committees framed from time to time in order to suggest improvements in such laws, the Ministry of Home Affairs is planning to maintain a National Database of Arms Licenses including both old and new holders. It is proposed that all license holders will be issued a Unique Identification Number (UIN) in order to monitor and track authorized as well as unauthorized weapon holders. This precautionary step will help to minimize crimes leading to injury and death due to firing by unauthorized weapons.

Concluding hereby, India has strict arms law when it comes to issuance of licenses. However, India is still at 2nd spot when it comes to number of deaths due to firing from guns, which clearly manifest that even a stringent Arms Act has not been able to make impediment among the masses in India which is purely for the reason of easy availability of illegal weapons either manufactured in country itself or smuggled through different sources.

Link to download Arms Act, 1959.

The author is a B.Com, LL.B (Hons), LL.M, Advocate, practicing at District Courts, Ludhiana. He can be reached at kalia.advocate@gmail.com. Views expressed herein are personal views of author.

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