Strong gun legislation necessary to stop school gun violence: Experts

Posted on February 6, 2008 0 Comments400

 


 


 


 


 



New Delhi
06.02.2008


School teachers, arms experts, lawyers and campaigners urged the Government of India today to redraft current obsolete gun legislation in India and regulate trade in arms as two major steps to stop violence in Indian schools.


“A gun is meant to kill and we should not allow it to reach wrong hands,” said Ms Arundhati Ghose, India’s former Ambassador to United Nations at a seminar on “Lessons from Gurgaon School Shootout: Call for Redrafting India’s Gun Legislation” organized by Control Arms Foundation of India (CAFI), an organization that works on human security and peace, and India International Center, here on Wednesday.


“The adequacy of existing gun laws needs to be urgently examined and implemented effectively,” said Ms Ghose. “Also, India cannot tackle this problem through domestic legislation alone; to stop illegally traded arms from entering India it needs other countries to play their part too.”


Lt. General A S Kalkat, Director Emeritus, Centre for Joint Warfare Studies elaborated the above point when he said, “Maximum damage is done by easy availability of arms that reach India illegally. There are very strong lobbies and interests that work to prevent any international legislation on arms trade. If India ratifies the legally binding global Arms Trade Treaty now being discussed at the United Nations, that would demonstrate that this government is concerned and committed to ensure that guns do not get into wrong hands for wrong purposes.”  


Mr. Baban. Prakash, Advocate at the Supreme Court, said the Indian Arms Act 1959 is stringent but requires redrafting to ensure that the law has more teeth. For example Section 9 of the Indian Arms Act states that license for carrying arms should not be given to “convicts”. We all know a criminal in India may not be convicted for years due to the slow legal processes. So the “Prohibited persons” definition should include undertrials of any criminal offence.” 


Air Commodore Prashant Dikshit said the lack of regulation of the international arms trade is hurting India’s citizens. Easy availability of illegal arms leads to a larger demand for legal arms, as desperate citizens seek refuge in the false promise that arming themselves will protect them from attack. ” Professor K. K Vashist of NCERT said parents should give more time to children as one way of preventing gun violence in schools. Mr. Scaria Principal, Army Public School, said, “Guns should not be available so easily; they have become a status symbol!” Dr.Kavita Sharma, Principal. Hindu College said that parents should pass on good values and simultaneously the government should ensure that the country’s executive effectively implements existing gun laws.


“The Indian government should sincerely honour its commitment made to United Nations Programme of Action on Small Arms and to take the lead in participating constructively in Group of Governmental Experts on the international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in order bring an end to rampant arms proliferation in our society,” said Ms Binalakshmi Nepram, Secretary General of Control Arms Foundation of India (CAFI).


For further information please contact:
Ms. Binalakshmi Nepram at 9891210264 or BNepram@cafi-online.org
Mr. Trilochan Pandey at 9958440807 or TPandey@cafi-online.org


Notes:
1. The idea of an Arms Trade Treaty was put together by 18 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates from over a dozen countries. The central aim of the ATT, which is based firmly on existing international law, is to provide a set of common minimum standards for arms transfers based firmly on states’ existing responsibilities under international law. These principles can be viewed in full at https://www.cafi-online.org/arms-trade-treaty.php
2. India is the second most heavily armed country in the world. The majority of estimated 40 million firearms in India are in civilian possession. There are 900,000 arms license holders in the state of Uttar Pradesh alone. And the number of arms dealers is at present pegged at around 1,400. ”
3. 76562 cases under the Arms Act were reported under in 2006

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