Govt Plans to Simplify Arms Act, Shorten License Procedure

Posted on May 7, 2015 0 Comments903
Owning a gun may soon be easier with the Home Ministry seeking to change the 56-year-old Arms Act and cut down on the lengthy procedure to obtain a licence within a specific time.

The government today made public the draft rules, as per which the number of documents required to be submitted for applying for an arms licence will be reduced from nearly two dozen at present to less than a dozen and the police verification has to be done between one and three months depending upon the arms.

The government also plans to generate a Unique Identification Number and consolidation of licences while granting a licence or renewal and enter the data of the record locally in an electronic format duly approved by the Centre.

The Arms Rules, 2015 provides that the licensing authority and the renewing authority shall also enter such data as are required in an electronic automated system as developed by the National Informatics Centre for this purpose and the NDAL system shall generate a unique identification number (UIN) without which no arms license shall be considered as valid with effect from the October 1, 2015.

The UIN so generated shall be unique for a licensee. Any licensee holding multiple licences shall be required to get his existing licences consolidated into a single licence and get the endorsement of the firearms on the new licence under his UIN by making an application to the concerned licensing authority on or before October 1.

The government also plans to make obtaining gun licence simpler for those who face grave and imminent threat to their lives due to the nature of duties performed by them and have made themselves targets of militants or terrorists, and for MPs, MLAs and others, who are closely or actively associated with anti-militant, anti-terrorist or anti-extremist programmes and policies of the government.

For grant of a licence for the restricted category of arms or ammunition, the central government in the Ministry of Home Affairs, based on the recommendations of the district magistrate and the concerned state government accompanied by the police verification report and in addition thereto, a separate verification conducted from its own sources, wherever deemed necessary, may consider the applications.

As per the draft anyone applying for a gun licence shall be required to complete arms and ammunition safety training course from an accredited trainer or an accredited shooting club or association.

The training shall include basic arms and ammunition safety practices, including safe handling and carrying procedures, firing techniques and procedures, care of arms and ammunition, safe storage and transportation of arms and ammunition and reasonable working knowledge of important provisions of the Arms Act, 1959 and Arms Rules, 2015 and responsibilities of the arms owner or user, particularly in relation to children.

Comments/views are invited on the draft Arms Rules, 2015 online at feedback.Arules2015@gov.In from firearms licensees and other stakeholders like firearms manufacturers, dealers, importers, exporters, gunsmiths, firearms transporters, accredited sport shooters, shooting clubs, Rifle Associations as also from general public.

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