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.

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.