The Arms Act, 1959 is an Act of the Parliament of India to consolidate and amend the law relating to arms and ammunition in order to curb illegal weapons and violence stemming from them. It replaced the

Indian Arms Act, 1878 The Arms Act, 1959 is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of India to consolidate and amend the law relating to arms and ammunition in order to curb illegal weapons and violence stemming from them. It replaced the Indian Arms Act, 1878. ...

. The Arms Act was passed in 1959.

Chapters

The act is divided into six chapters. * Chapter I: Preliminary (Section 1 & 2) *:Provides a short title and definitions of terms used in the act * Chapter II: Acquisition, Possession, Manufacture, Sale, Import, Export, and Transport of Arms and Ammunition (Section 3 to 12) *: Explains rules and regulations around acquisition, possession, manufacture, sale, import, export and transport of arms and ammunition in India. * Chapter III: Provisions relating to licences (Section 13 to 18) *: Details how to procure license, rules around grant, refusal, fees for license. * Chapter IV: Powers and Procedure (Section 19 to 24B) *: Provides details on the powers that the government officials have to enforce this act. * Chapter V: Offences and penalties (Section 25 to 33) *: Explains punishments associated with breaking rules related to this act. * Chapter VI: Miscellaneous (Section 34 to 46) *: Deals with the other miscellaneous parts of the act such as exemptions.

Current affairs

The Act has undergone many changes since 1959, the most recent being in 2010 through an amendment for the Arms Act. There was also controversy around

air gun An air gun or airgun is a gun that fires projectiles pneumatically with compressed air or other gases that are mechanically pressurized ''without'' involving any chemical reactions, in contrast to a firearm, which pressurizes gases ''chemica ...

s to be included as part of this act which was rejected by the Supreme Court of India. Semi-automatic and

automatic firearm An automatic firearm is an auto-loading firearm that continuously chambers and fires rounds when the trigger mechanism is actuated. The action of an automatic firearm is capable of harvesting the excess energy released from a previous discharg ...

s are illegal to posses by civilians.

Previous legislation

The Indian Arms Act, 1878 was an act regulating the manufacture, sale, possession, and carry of

firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

s. Prior to the Indian Rebellion of 1857, there were few gun control laws in

Colonial India Colonial India was the part of the Indian subcontinent that was occupied by European colonial powers during the Age of Discovery. European power was exerted both by conquest and trade, especially in spices. The search for the wealth and prosper ...

. The act included the mandatory licensing to carry a weapon, but contained exclusions for some groups and persons, for instance "all persons of Kodava (

Coorg Kodagu (also known by its former name Coorg) is an administrative district in the Karnataka state of India. Before 1956, it was an administratively separate Coorg State, at which point it was merged into an enlarged Mysore State. It occupies ...

) race". In a 1918 recruitment leaflet for World War I, Mahatma Gandhi voiced disapproval of the act:

“Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest. If we want the Arms Act to be repealed, if we want to learn the use of arms, here is a golden opportunity. If the middle classes render voluntary help to Government in the hour of its trial, distrust will disappear, and the ban on possessing arms will be withdrawn.”

In '' The New Cambridge History of India: Science, Technology and Medicine in Colonial India'', historian David Arnold noted the effect of the British rule on weapons, mining and metallurgy in India:Arnold, 100-101

Stun Guns

Under Indian Arms Act, 1956

stun gun A stun gun is any weapon that incapacitates its target without killing. Tasers, tranquillizer guns, and mace (spray) are all types of stun guns. Subcategories of stun gun include the electroshock weapon, an incapacitating weapon that momentarily di ...

s and tasers require licensing and are considered as ''prohibited arms'' under Section 25 (1A) of the Arms Act.

Edged weapons and bows

Edged weapon An edged weapon, or bladed weapon, is a melee weapon with a cutting edge. Bladed weapons include swords, daggers, knives, and bayonets. Edged weapons are used to cut, hack, or slash; some edged weapons (such as many kinds of swords) may also permit ...

s like

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

s, machetes, daggers, spears and ranged weapons like crossbows and

bow and arrow The bow and arrow is a ranged weapon system consisting of an elastic launching device (bow) and long-shafted projectiles ( arrows). Humans used bows and arrows for hunting and aggression long before recorded history, and the practice was comm ...

s require license under the Arms Act. Open carrying of edged weapons and bows is illegal except for Nihang

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

s after obtaining a license under the Arms Act, and the Gurkha community is allowed to open carry khukris and the Kodava community is allowed to carry swords, bows and even

s without license but only within the

Kodagu district Kodagu (also known by its former name Coorg) is an administrative district in the Karnataka state of India. Before 1956, it was an administratively separate Coorg State, at which point it was merged into an enlarged Mysore State. It occupies ...

. In 2004 the

Ananda Marga Ānanda Mārga ("The Path of Bliss", also spelled Anand Marg and Ananda Marg) or officially Ānanda Mārga Pracāraka Saṃgha (organization for the propagation of the path of bliss), is a world-wide socio-spiritual organisation founded in J ...

sect have been allowed to carry Trishulas ( Trident) in their religious processions. Shia Muslims are allowed to carry swords and knives but only during Muharram processions after obtaining permission from the respective local police department.https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/is-it-legal-to-carry-weapons-in-processions-explainer-1938954-2022-04-18

References