Guns Control in Republic of India

[Hindustani78]

28% GST on firearms leading to black money transactions; shooters, dealers demand revision

Gun owners’ forums have been demanding that ban on import of firearms for civilians should be lifted. The ban was imposed in 1984, when the custom duty to import guns was 200%.

Updated: Nov 18, 2017 18:08 IST


Hindustan Times

High GST on firearms has led to rampant under invoicing of sale of second hand foreign weapons that sell at sky-high price. (Wikipedia)

Shooting club members, private gun owners and dealers in different states have asked the government to either lift or revise the 28 % GST imposed on revolvers and pistols and 18 % GST on rifles, shotguns and air rifles. The rate is same for new and second hand weapon sale.

The high tax was leading to under invoicing of the sale leading to revenue loss to the government and also generation of black money, they claim. Earlier, the rate of sales tax was 18 % on firearms of all categories and only 5 % on air rifles.

“Last month I paid Rs 2.5 lakh for a Webley and Scott revolver made in the 1930s. That is its going market rate. The gun shop owner however prepared a bill for Rs 40,000. Who would pay 28 % GST on Rs 2.5 lakh for an 80-year-old revolver?” said a south Kolkata based businessman requesting anonymity. “A friend of mine bought a Walther PPK, the famous James Bond gun, for a whopping Rs 14 lakh. Please don’t ask what the billing amount was,” he quipped.

The .32 bore revolver made by the Indian Ordnance Factory (IOF) has a close resemblance to the Webley and a fresh piece retails for around Rs 92,000 inclusive of 28 % GST. The same revolver sells for approximately half the price in the second hand market but under invoicing is common.

“Such steep GST rates will obviously make people reluctant to pay. No GST should be charged on old guns and rates for new IOF weapons should be revised as well,” said Biswajit Biswas, owner of D N Biswas and Co, one of the oldest gun shops in Bengal.

Interestingly, the government said in July that second hand goods would not attract GST if the transaction amount was lower than the original price of the product.

Dealers have raised these issues several times and gun owners’ forums have been demanding that ban on import for civilians should be lifted. The ban was imposed in 1984, when the custom duty to import guns was 200%.

Among civilians, only top competitive shooters can import firearms. These imports were given full exemption by the GST Council a few days ago.

Abhijeet Singh, founder-member of National Association for Gun Rights India (NAGRI), said alternatively the government can allow foreign manufacturers to set up plants under the ‘Make in India’ initiative.

“How can the same GST rates be imposed on old guns that change hands over and over again?” said Ravi Ahuja, general secretary, Chandigarh Arms Dealers Association. More than half of the licence holders in India own old weapons of foreign or Indian origin, he said.

As per government figures of December 2016, there were 33.69,444 gun licences in the country. Many of these licensees own multiple weapons against one licence. With 12.77 lakh licences, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of civilians authorised to carry firearms. Jammu and Kashmir comes second with 3.69 lakh firearm owners.

 

[Hindustani78]

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Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh may have been spreading the message of “love” but his followers - thanks to the 67 firearm licences the Haryana government issued to Dera Sacha Sauda

Dera followers also carried semi-automatic shotguns and at least one Mauser C96 carbine which, unlike the weapon’s short-barrel pistol version, is a rare collector’s item even in Europe because few of these were made.

Out of the 33 licensed firearms the Sirsa sadar police recovered on Monday, some are military surplus rifles of US origin.

Arms experts who studied photographs of the seized weapons said quite a few are the famous M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle that US soldiers have used for more than half a century. The 30-06 caliber Garand is still used in training and competitions in America.

Experts also spotted at least one US-made M1 Carbine (not to be confused with the M1 Garand rifle) that are shorter and lighter and fire the 7.62 x 33 mm ammunition.

“This type of semi-automatic firearms are rarely seen in the possession of licensed gun owners in India. Such weapons have been used in the past in gang wars,” said Ravi Ahuja, general secretary of Chandigarh Arms Dealers Association.

Sirsa sadar station house officer (SHO) Dinesh Kumar, said: “There are some automatic pistols, but we are not sure about the semi automatic rifles. We have not been able to check all the weapons. It is possible that M1 Garand semi -automatic rifles are there. We will able to give the details after the weapons have been checked.”

Experts said the star of the cache recovered on Monday was a German Mauser carbine with an extremely rare 14-inch barrel. The Mauser carbine fires the same 7.63x25 mm cartridge as the Mauser pistol but delivers a more accurate shot at long distance like a rifle. Mauser pistols are very popular in Punjab and the ones with full-automatic firing capability fetch fancy price running up to Rs 10 lakh.

“Garand rifles, Mausers and M1 carbines are found in the possession of civilians in Punjab and Haryana because a sizeable section of the population in these states serve in the Indian army. In the past, officers and junior commissioned officers could buy military surplus weapons from the ordnance depot at Jabalpur for personal use. Many of them retained these weapons after retirement and subsequently many such weapons ended up in the market,” said an expert on Indians arms laws.

Indian civilians are not allowed to possess semi-automatic rifles of any caliber (only the .22 caliber was exempted in 2016) unless they have special permit.

“To avoid legal problem, owners of many Garand rifles have drilled holes in the gas tubes. This makes the rifle incapable of firing in semi-automatic mode. However there are still many Garands in original condition. Whether the ones recovered from Dera followers were altered or not can be established only after close examination,” said an arms expert.

Sirsa police said on Monday that Dera Sacha Sauda administration collected 33 licensed weapons and informed them. There were Indian ordnance factory-made .315 rifles as well. Some of these rifles were fitted with folding butt-stocks for easy carry. Revolvers and pistols were also recovered.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/punja...ar-in-state/story-EGUwMCC9wLxmhwT7vMpIaJ.html

The contraband and weapons — 22kg of heroin, a pistol with 11 cartridges and magazine and the Pakistani SIM — were recovered after a search of the area around the border out-post.
Updated: Nov 18, 2017 20:22 IST

HT Correspondent
Hindustan Times, Ferozepur

Continuing with its crackdown on drugs trade, the Punjab police has busted a gang of drug traffickers and smugglers with the arrest of three persons from the Indo-Pak border area in Ferozepur district on Friday midnight.(HT Photo)

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Home Affairs
19-December, 2017 15:48 IST
FDI in private security industries

The extant policy of the Government allows Foreign Direct Investment in the private security industry upto 49% with Government approval, subject to applicable laws/regulations, security and other conditionalities.

There is no change in the process for procurement of arms and ammunition by a private security company as per Arms Act, 1959 and Arms Rules 2016.

Sections 19 to 27 of the Arms Act, 1959 provide that arms cannot be issued/sold to unauthorized individuals.

A web portal has been developed to enable the State Governments/Controlling Authorities to maintain a database for effective monitoring of the relevant provisions of PSAR Act, 2005.

This was stated by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Hansraj Gangaram Ahir in a written reply to question by Shri Arvind Sawant in the Lok Sabha today.

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[Hindustani78]

Posted at: Feb 13, 2018, 12:44 AM; last updated: Feb 13, 2018, 12:44 AM (IST)
In terror-hit J&K, over 80,000 arms licences issued in 3 yrs
Kupwara district tops with more than 20,000 licences

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/ja...000-arms-licences-issued-in-3-yrs/542962.html

Arteev Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu, February 12

Even as security-related matters remain a major concern for establishments in J&K, the ruling PDP-BJP government has issued more than 80,000 arms licences during the past three years.

According to the state’s Home Department held by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, at least 82,096 arms licences have been issued by various licencing authorities within the state in the last three years. “In 2015, a total of 37,824 arms licences were issued in various districts of the state with Kupwara topping the tally with 10,978 licences followed by 6,345 in Baramulla, 5,910 in Poonch and 4,746 in Kishtwar,” an official document of the Home Department said.

In 2016, as many as 30,438 arms licences were issued in which Kupwara again topped the list with 9,340 licences followed by 4,723 in Baramulla and 3,202 in Ramban.

Similarly, a total of 13,834 arms licences were issued by the ruling PDP-BJP government in 2017 with Udhampur district having the maximum number i.e. 2,838. Aggregately, the maximum arm licences have been issued in three districts of north Kashmir — Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora — where a total of 31,688 licences were given to the people. The department, however, did not divulge the details of the licence holders considering “the privacy of the individuals and owing to security reasons”. Pertinently, the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad had busted a well-knit inter-state racket in September last year having roots in J&K, which was engaged in issuance of fake arms licences to the people, including retired Army personnel, after manipulating signatures and stamps of some of the District Magistrates. The racket had been operating in two parts – first by getting arms licence from J&K by showing the beneficiary as Army personnel and getting licences made in backdate up to 2008 by showing the beneficiary as a resident of the terror-hit state and second by arranging arms from Madhya Pradesh.