People across the globe watched in shock as the terror attack on Mumbai unfolded on television screens everywhere. The meticulous planning and the sheer audacity of the attacks stunned the world and, in the final analysis, set the stage for a pure human tragedy: 195 lives lost, many times that number seriously injured, and hundreds of families scarred forever.

The terrorists targeted iconic landmarks like the busy CST railway terminus, two luxury hotels, a local Jewish outreach centre, a cafe, and a hospital. They placed bombs in taxis and other locations. All of these attacks occurred almost simultaneously, compounding the confusion and completely exposing the inept emergency services.

Now as the citizens of Mumbai go about the business of rebuilding their burnt out landmarks and trying to heal shattered lives, the emotions of a nation turn from horror to anger at being let down by those very people whose duty it was to protect them. But instead of playing the blame game it is time for the citizens of India to pause and try to understand why was it that these merchants of terror succeeded so well in their dastardly enterprise and how culpable are we for creating the circumstances which multiplied the magnitude of this tragedy many fold. After all, this was only a group of ten terrorists and those ten were mostly split into teams of two each, to enable them to cover several locations simultaneously. Why were they not stopped sooner? Did so many people really have to die?
Continue reading Mumbai’s Harsh Lesson on Gun Control →

“I wish I’d had a gun, not a camera!” These were the words of the Mumbai based news photographer who clicked the photo of one of the terrorists, while they attacked the CST railway station. You can read more of what he had to say here here >>

Disturbingly he had this to say about the armed railway police charged with guarding the railway station – “There were armed policemen hiding all around the station but none of them did anything…” This simply underlines the need for more private citizens to be armed and prepared to defend themselves, we should not and cannot depend on the police to come save us in such situations.

The dastardly terrorist attack on Mumbai last week (once again) exposed how strict gun control laws directly help criminals target law abiding citizens with impunity. The terrorists came to Mumbai armed not only with AK-47’s, grenades and bombs, but also with the knowledge that they could safely expect no armed resistance from the citizens of Mumbai!

Successive Indian governments have put in place legislation and policy measures that have ensured that terrorists have as safe a work environment as possible. Our own elected representatives have been looking out for the interests of the bad guys! The long standing government policy has been one of limiting gun ownership through a tight arms licensing regime combined with industrial & import policies that ensure that (legal) arms & ammunition are stupendously expensive and thus out of reach for most.

A used handgun that retails for under US$ 700 (new) in USA, ends up costing up to US$ 6,000 or even more in India (prices upwards of US$ 20,000 are not unheard of, and these are ordinary handguns not collectors pieces). Mind boggling? It gets worse, even if you manage that elusive arms license and fork out more than 10 or 20 times the original price for a 20 year (or more) old handgun, you have to contend with ammunition purchase limits. The limit most commonly imposed on arms licenses is 25/50 i.e., you can purchase 25 rounds at a time, subject to a maximum of 50 in a calendar year… this is what the government considers more than adequate for you to prepare yourself for a “self-defence” situation. Of course there is also the small matter of where you would practice your skills, shooting ranges being few and far between and where they do exist, membership is required more often than not… many a times a cumbersome process in itself… not that ammunition is exactly cheap in India, but if you can swing an arms license and also afford to pay so much money for an ordinary .32 calibre handgun, I’m assuming you are loaded to begin with!

A death toll of 188 (expected to rise further) and many times more injured. All this mayhem perpetuated by only a handful of terrorists! can we afford to ignore the writing on the wall? Can anyone contest the fact that, if even a small percentage of their victims had been armed & prepared – the terrorists would have been stopped much earlier and the death count would have been substantially lower? It is high time the Indian public demands that it no longer be denied one of the most basic human rights – the right to self-defence.

This independence day, I thought I’d post the full text of the Karachi Resolution, 1931. This was a landmark as it incorporated a list of Fundamental Rights, that ANY constitution of an independent India should gaurantee for its citizens. This included the “Right to Keep and Bear Arms” (RKBA). It may be pertinent to note here that the Motilal Nehru Report of 1928 had for the first time introduced a list of Fundamental Rights and this included, besides other rights, the Right to Bear Arms.

THE KARACHI RESOLUTION : 1931
The Karachi Congress resolution on Fundamental Rights and Economic Programme, as varied by the All-India Congress Committee in its meeting held in Bombay on August 6, 7, and 8, 1931, runs as follows :

Continue reading Karachi Resolution 1931 →

Dug this out from an old post of mine at Yahoo groups to quote elsewhere, but then decided it should be posted under the RKBA section as well…

Over 3 lakh unlicensed guns in Delhi
Maneesh Pandey
11 May, 2003 TNN

NEW DELHI:Ninety per cent of the crimes in Delhi are committed using unlicensed guns. From the rudimentary desi katta – a rusty pipe attached to a crude wooden grip and a trigger – to the more sophisticated ‘Star’ guns smuggled in from China and Pakistan, the illegal gun market is thriving like never before.

Officials say legal firearms are used only in stray cases of suicides and domestic violence. Delhi Police estimates that the number of illegal guns is five times higher than the 55,000 licensed guns in the city.

Ooooh!! I love it when the cops say things like that!! But is anyone in parliament listening!!!

Cheers!
Abhijeet

Every once in a while one comes across an article that reflects ones own thinking so well that it’s almost spooky! This is exactly the feeling I got while reading this article by Jeff Snyder on the “American Handgunner” website. I make no bones about the fact that I am as pro-gun as one can get, BUT and this is a big BUT I simply DO NOT buy the argument that – citizens possessing guns either prevents a tyrannical government from coming to power OR helps replace that government with a better dispensation! History is littered with enough examples to disprove this argument. Just look at our own neighbourhood – Afghanistan is chock a block full of firearms in the hands of civilians, but that hasn’t helped it move anywhere close to a free and fair democratic society!

The author extensively quotes from Etienne de la Boetie’s “The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude” and one cannot help but draw parallels with India’s fight for independence. It seems so much like we have exchanged one set of oppressive rulers (the British) for another (the Politician-Bureaucrat combine)! Boetie’s essay seems to have an explanation as to why we Indians have so readily accepted this new dispensation without so much as a whimper.

Why is it that so few of us are bothered by our governments repeated infringements of civil liberties? Why does the vast majority not protest the rampant corruption that ails our institutions? And why, why is no one even willing to listen (let alone act)? Boetie’s essay seems to have some pretty interesting answers. A disturbing analysis of human nature – check it out and draw your own conclusions.