Clamp Down on Gun Culture in Punjab

Updated: 10/5/2024
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Last Updated: 5 Oct 2024

A burgeoning gun culture in Punjab, aided by administration that made the police officers subordinate to the full-time politicians, had led to the meaningless violence every now and then[1]

AAP Govt's efforts in curbing the Gun Culture and improvement in Police admistration are slowly showing results

Efforts to curb the gun culture

1. Complete BAN on Gun Display and Songs on Guns

  • A complete ban on the public display of weapons[2]
  • A ban on songs promoting gun culture etc[2:1][3]
  • Punjabi singer Manpreet Singh Sangha booked under Sections 294 and 120B IPC in Punjab’s Kapurthala for promoting gun culture in his songs “Still Alive”[4]
  • 189 FIRs were registered for violation of directions/ instruction to ban the use of display of firearms and other related offences[2:2]

2. Review of Existing Licenses

  • In November 2022, AAP government had ordered a review of all firearms licenses[2:3]
  • 900 licences were cancelled in 10 days of november 2022 [5]
  • 813 licenses have been cancelled in March 2023[5:1][6]

3. Strict rules for New Licenses

  • No new license shall be granted unless the District Collector is personally satisfied that extraordinary grounds exist for doing so[7]

4. Gun House Inspections

  • Introduced gun house inspections by gazetted police officers to keep a check on the stocks and plug the pilfering of ammunition and misuse of licensed arms[8]
  • The Commissioners and SSPs have been asked to send district-wise quarterly reports to the armament branch of Punjab Police’s Provisioning Wing while all range IGs and DIGs are told to monitor compliance[8:1]

How big was the problem? (Till 2022)

  • Over 34,000 firearms licence issued in Punjab since 2019 [2:4]
  • Despite being only 2% of India’s population, Punjab has nearly 10% of total licensed weapons[8:2][9]
  • There were 13 gun licences for every 1,000 persons in Punjab[8:3]
  • Huge influx of illegal weapons from across the international border and states such Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh[8:4]
  • Although the weapons are illegally procured by anti-social elements, the ammunition is mostly pilfered from local gun houses[8:5]

REFERENCES:

  1. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23391224 ↩︎

  2. https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/over-34-000-firearms-licence-issued-in-punjab-since-2019-punjab-govt-tells-hc-101714162351874.html ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/punjab-govt-bans-songs-glorifying-weapons-public-display-of-firearms/articleshow/95488271.cms?from=mdr ↩︎

  4. https://sundayguardianlive.com/news/punjabi-singer-booked-for-promoting-gun-culture ↩︎

  5. https://news.abplive.com/news/india/in-crackdown-on-punjab-s-gun-culture-bhagwant-mann-led-govt-cancels-over-810-gun-licences-1587874 ↩︎ ↩︎

  6. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-law/punjab-cancels-813-gun-licenses-indian-laws-arms-possession-8495724/ ↩︎

  7. https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/bhagwant-mann-aam-aadmi-party-flaunting-arms-banned-in-punjabs-big-crackdown-on-gun-culture-3516031 ↩︎

  8. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/dgp-orders-quarterly-inspection-gun-houses-punjab-8276638/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  9. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/punjab-gun-lakh-civilians-own-arm-licence-8460613/ ↩︎

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