The Parliament passed the Arms (Amendment) Bill 2019 with the Rajya Sabha approving it today.
The Bill seeks to amend the Arms Act, 1959. It intends to decrease the number of license arms allowed per person and increase the quantum of penalties for violations of the law. The Bill also increases the duration of the validity of arms license from three years to five years.
Replying to the discussion, Minister of State for Home Affairs, G. Kishan Reddy said, manufacturing of illegal arms and its smuggling is the cause of concern and effective regulations are needed for the safety of the people.
He said, the government has proposed to have serial numbers on each bullet to keep track of its use.
The Minister said, in the last five years, there is an increase in seizures of illegal arms and ammunition. He said, this Bill is brought with the intention to curb the illegal trafficking of the arms.
Earlier, moving the Bill, he said, strict punishment measures have been adopted in the Bill against those who are found to be involved in the manufacturing, transportation and use of the illegal arms. He said, the Bill provides the facility to keep hereditary weapons for exhibition purpose after the deactivation and surrendering the license, however, the new Bill allows only two guns for the license holders.
Participating in the discussion, Hussain Dalwai of Congress said, this Bill will impose a strict ban on the illegal arms as most of the crimes are committed by illegal and unlicensed arms. Subhasish Chakraborty of TMC demanded that the government should take strict action for curbing the illegal arms. Sukhram Singh Yadav of Samajwadi Party said, licensing right should remain with the State government and arms license renewal process must be simplified.
Ramchandra Prasad Singh of JD(U) stressed on the training of the arms license holders saying that effective disposable mechanism should be put in place for those who want to surrender their additional arms.
Echoing the same view, V. Laxmikantha Rao of TRS said, issuing authority should remain careful while issuing the arms license.
Digvijay Singh of Congress demanded to send the bill to the Select Committee for further scrutiny. Binoy Vishwam of CPI said that only one weapon should be allowed per person.
Prasanna Acharya of BJD, Dr. D.P. Vats of BJP, Manoj Jha of RJD, B.K. Hariprashad of Congress, Ram Gopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party, P. Wilson of DMK. Vijaysai Reddy of YSR (Congress) and T.K. Rangarajan of CPI(M) also participated in the discussion.