All posts by abhijeet

"Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire." -- Robert Heinlein
guns, politics

Karachi Resolution 1931

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 →

default, guns, politics

Asif and Abhijeet on CNN-IBN

10 Comments

Asif (a fellow member at indiansforguns.com) and I, were interviewed by CNN-IBN on the 16th of this month. The topic was gun control and why Indian citizens need to have a right to keep and bear arms (RKBA)!

The interview was aired the same evening, you can read a short text transcript on below:

Trigger happy: 40 mn guns in India
Shailesh Rai
CNN-IBN
Posted Friday , September 15, 2006 at 20:44
Updated Friday , September 15, 2006 at 21:06

New Delhi: Abhijeet Singh is a software professional who works with Open Source Programs – a software that’s open to everyone to use without restrictions.

He’s also part of a growing group which wants the same freedom to extend to something totally different – guns.

“If you’re mugged on a street, will you tell the muggers – ‘Wait, let me just call the police’ – and then go to them and continue getting mugged?” Singh asks.

“Criminals are already armed. Why should someone who wants to protect his family be denied that choice?” he adds.

But it isn’t that easy to lock and load in India. To own a gun, you first have to apply for a firearm license.

You then have to go for an interview with the local Deputy Commissioner of Police of licensing, where you’ll have to prove a tangible threat.

Gun use in India is regulated by the Arms Act of 1959, which ensures that a person can own a gun only after a very stringent process.

Yet, the United Nations puts the total number of guns in the country at around 40 million.

“There’s a very small line between legal and illegal arms. Guns get lost, stolen and end up in the black market,” says Vice-President of Control Arms Foundation of India, Anuradha Chenoy.

But the debate is also a moral one. Abhijeet is the moderator of a web group called indiansforguns.com.

One of it’s members, Asif Ali, says most gun owners are responsible citizens.

“Just because you have a gun doesn’t make you a maniac,” he explains.

But there’s also a different point of view. “The mere possession of a gun can convince a person to use it,” argues Anuradha.

The Government will be under the gun next month, when it has the chance to sign an arms trade treaty in the UN General Assembly. It’s a vote that could be an indicator of things to come.

If bandwidth is not an issue you can see the archived (low res) video on their site here >>

guns, politics

Over 3 lakh unlicensed guns in Delhi

1 Comment

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

guns, politics

Interesting take on gun rights

4 Comments

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.

guns, internet, politics

Indians for guns

Aside 15 Comments

Indians for guns (formerly Indians4guns) has a new home!

Indians For Guns logo
Indians For Guns

Check out this brand new India specific pro-gun forum here.

guns

Cornered Cat – Women and Guns

Link 1 Comment

An interesting and entertaining site – corneredcat.com

The site owner describes this site as:

This site is about women and guns, not about cats. But in a way, it’s about the cornered cat in all of us. It’s about the determination to get away from an attacker if you need to. It’s about making the decision to say, “Not me. Not mine. Not today.” And it’s about the tools to make that decision stick.

Check it out here.

guns

Article by a fellow Indian pro-gunner

Link 8 Comments

Check out this article by a fellow Indian pro-gunner titled “Arms, ammunition and the man”.

Ebenezer Stephen, a journalist by profession, has written pro-gun pieces for other Indian publications as well and is also a member of our pro-gun Group Indians For Guns.

Update: Newstodaynet seems to have removed the archived article from their website.

politics

Amazing quote on free speech!!

Aside

Came upon this amazing quote by Pastor Martin Niemoller here. Have yet to see simpler and better logic on why to speak up about things that don’t directly affect you…

First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.

default

Air Supply – Gasp! I can’t breathe!!

Was at the Air Supply concert last evening,
thankfully had hooked up with some friends for a few beers before the event –
might have been unbearable otherwise! A couple of geriatric has been rockers,
singing mushy songs and trying to get the smallish crowd of less than 2000
people all excited… 😛

Well to be completely honest there were moments which brought back old
memories… especially when they played their old hits like “making love
out of nothing at all”, “all out of love”, “lost in
love” etc. Reminded me of college days when a spare cassette full of their
numbers was always handy in the car, handy to be played when one got hit by the
post-break up blues… Looking back, (nostalgia aside) it seems hard to believe
that I was such a sentimental fool in those days! :O Guess everyone hardens up
as they grow older; slowly discarding their youthful naiveté and sentimentality
along the way… instead picking up a drier attitude and thicker skin… handier
tools to survive the world, maybe a little less fun though…

guns, politics

The cost of gun ownership in India

The Guardian reports that the cost of gun ownership in India has suddenly skyrocketed: to obtain a single-barrel shotgun, two people would need to be sterilised; for a revolver licence, the price would be five – civil liberties be damned!!

Read more about this ridiculous new birth control measure here.