Indians For Guns

Hello!!

I am a video journalist, samples of my stories are here: www.rakshakumar.com

I am looking for shooters in Bangalore I can talk to regarding their experience in shooting. Why they do it? And was it tough to get licences?

Please get in touch with me. Email: kumar.raksha@gmail.com

Thank you
Raksha

Welcome to IFG, Raksha.


Could you please elaborate a bit about what you intend to explore with this effort? I mean what is your theme? That helps people to decide whether to respond.Details would help.Thanks.


Best-
Vikram

Thanks for the response Vikram.

My story would look at why has there been an increase in the number of arms licences given out by the Govt of Karnataka this year? Why do people of Bangalore want to own arms? It does not make any judgements. It is just a social assessment. Anyone who can give their testimony on this would help.

When did you get your licence? How tough was it? Why do you need a gun? Do you not trust the police?
But, tangentially, also looking at people who enjoy shooting and can give me interesting insights into shooting!

Looking forward to hearing more from you
Raksha

Thanks for the reply,Raksha.

That makes it easier for people if they wish to respond to your request. What happens usually is that a writer or a news maker has a certain agenda and manipulate the data to support that agenda. When there is no predetermined bent to the view, one expects that it reflects in the end product.Hence my question.

I do not live in Bangalore. So, I would allow our members from that part to respond.

May I request you to share with us the source that says issue of arms licenses increased this year in Bangalore? That is interesting.

Please restrict the theme to this thread alone as multiple posts with the same content on different threads confuse and serve no purpose. Thank you and all the best with your efforts.

Best-
Vikram

Sure.

This is one crude report: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bangalore-mo ... 2-132.html

But, since not much is done on this front, I will have to work from scratch. And the best place to start is from individual testimonies. Members are free to take a look at the stories I have done in the past: www.rakshakumar.com before they feel comfortable and respond.

Great.

Meanwhile, may I request you to check our database on this subject? You will have a good deal of working knowledge on the subject, irrespective of whether you agree or not. I would suggest the RKBA section in particular as it usually is the basis for legal and responsible firearm ownership. May be, you may consider procuring yourself a license for a handgun to defend yourself.

Best-
Vikram

Thanks. Will do.

Raksha welcome to the forum. I will attempt to answer some of your questions below.

My story would look at why has there been an increase in the number of arms licences given out by the Govt of Karnataka this year?

There is nothing to be alarmed about it. Most probably people are becoming aware of their rights. Also one can reasonably say that course of the history of human civilization has been decided by those who had better arms. There is a fine essay about "The Gun is civilization" mentioned in this thread http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16760

It needs to be understood that government is not "giving" or "granting" arms licenses. Arms are fundamental right of citizens of this country guaranteed by the Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India. Arms Act 1959 is just a regulatory law to regulate this fundamental right. Similar analogy would be Right to Information Act 2005 which has been enacted to regulate the fundamental right of Freedom of Expression guaranteed by the Constitution of India. In order to understand this please read the recent High Court judgment where it is explained that firearm licence is not a privilege accorded by the government. One such judgment can be read here http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php ... 64#p147708

Hence arms license is already implied or vested with the citizens of India. In other words if a citizen of India applies for arms license, unless the citizen is disqualified under Section 14 of Arms Act 1959, license has to be issued using Section 13 of Arms Act 1959.

Why do people of Bangalore want to own arms?

Same answer that most probably they are becoming aware of their rights. It is not only Bangalore but it is same anywhere in the country wherever people are aware of their rights.

How tough was it?

Theoretically on paper it is simple but practically it is exhausting and sometimes an insulting experience. Usual modus operandi to deny arms license is described in this post http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php ... 08#p161201 Please read these experiences to understand how much frustrating it can be in some cases http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14520 and this http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17558

Why do you need a gun?

It is not a matter of "need" or "threat" etc. As mentioned above, it is a basic human right and fundamental right guaranteed to the free citizens by the free Constitution of free India.

Do you not trust the police?

Wrong question. It is matter of basic fundamental rights and freedoms of free people and not about trust. Just like Police is the law enforcement machinery of State, similarly free people of this country are law enforcement machinery in their individual capacity. When any person acts in self defense, he is doing nothing but taking the law of self defense in his own hands and enforcing the law in individual capacity. The law that he is enforcing is described from Sections 96 to 106 of Indian Penal Code. Similarly a person has right to arrest anyone who commits a non-bailable and cognizable offence, or any proclaimed offender under Section 43(1) of Criminal Procedure Code. Another example is community policing and patrolling by armed citizens, like under Punjab Village and Small Towns Patrol Act, 1918, armed citizens do patrolling at night and they are considered equivalent to police officers for purpose of law.

If you have any more questions or doubts about above answers please feel free to ask.

One should also consider the fact that the police (however effective they may be) are at best a deterrent to crime and in case a crime takes place, they act as the investigation agency AFTER the event! It is rare indeed for the police to interrupt a crime in progress... Hence, any citizen who wishes to be better prepared to deal with unforeseen (and random) acts of violent crime would be acting rationally in choosing to carry some form of self-defense tool with which to protect himself.

The most effective tool for self-defense is a firearm so it should not be surprising that people are choosing to own/ carry firearms. Of course this also demonstrates that citizens are shedding their victim mindset (soften prevalent in India) and are increasingly coming to the realization that protecting their person & property is First & foremost their own responsibility and not that of the state.

There are many hurdles to legal gun ownership though... Firstly there is the opaque and humiliating process of applying Fran arms license, secondly the government has distorted the market for (legal) firearms to such an extent that what would otherwise sell for $100-250 overseas, sells in India for INR 1,00,000/- to INR 4,00,000/- or MORE!! :-O Then of course there is the little matter of meager ammunition quotas which make becoming proficient with the use of one's firearm next to impossible, well even if one did have access to unlimited ammunition there are precious few facilities in India where one can boot learn now to shoot. Last but not the least there are strict area of validity restrictions, which forces citizens to choose between whether they wish to exercise their right to freedom of movement or right to life (& by extension the right to self-protection) BUT NOT BOTH at the same time!!!!


Cheers!
Abhijeet

Raksha,
Welcome to IFG. I must say that is a quite an accomplished resume.
It is a pleasure to have you participating in our forum. I'm sure we can learn much from each other; the forum from you and you from the forum.
While our forum is primarily about firearms, we have members here from all over the world and most of them have a wealth of life's experiences to share.

Earlier, Bangalore had well, Bangaloreans - born there, or pensioners.Now it is crawling with people from all over the world.That has disrupted the peace.Earlier, crimes were low and petty.Now, don't ask.

Arms are a coping measure.

Raksha, welcome to ifg.
A couple of questions:
1. Why restrict your queries only to bangalore?
2. Do you know of an organization called NAGRI?
The reason i ask this question is that if you broaden the framework of your work and cover india and various indian cities and regions, you will be able to deliver a cohesive report which wont be bogged down due to a lack of connect with the audience elsewhere.
Secondly; NAGRI, that is, National association for gun rights india, is at fhe forefront of a struggle to win more rights for people to own firearms easily and responsibly and to espouse the cause of RKBA among others.
I am sure they would love to help you out n any manner they can, should you desire to get in touch with them.

Apt name for a member, Raksha, as in defense, and then to look for information on self defense!

Thanks a lot for the detailed info goodboy_monitor. It helped me understand the situation better.

@Abhijeet, Skyman, thanks for your responses. Are either of you in Bangalore and willing to speak to me about this in greater detail? My email is raknisha@yahoo.com

@Safarigent, thanks a lot. Will get in touch with the organisation. It is Bangalore because one can't cover all the complex issues given the resource limitation the media finds itself in.