Punjab: Gun houses’ check ordered to plug ammunition pilferage

Chandigarh: Close on the heels of Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s directions to review all the existing arms licenses to check ``gun culture’’ in the state, the director general of police (DGP), Punjab, Gaurav Yadav, on Friday ordered a mandatory inspection of the shops, premises and stocks of all the gun houses on a quarterly basis across the state.

It is noteworthy that while Punjab has only 2% of India's population, it has about 10% of the total licensed weapons which stand at nearly 4 lakhs, or there are 13 gun licenses for every 1,000 persons in Punjab, according to an official statement.

The official statement held that there is a huge influx of illegal weapons from across the international border and the inter-state borders from states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Although the weapons are illegally procured by anti-social elements, the ammunition is mostly pilfered from local gun houses of Punjab, the statement further held.

The DGP said that there was an urgent need to enforce the basic policing practice of inspection of gun houses by gazetted police officers for which they are empowered as per the rules, so as to keep a check on the stocks and plug the pilferage of ammunition and misuse of licensed arms.

Earlier, apart from directing a review of all the existing arm licenses in the state, the chief minister had also ordered that if any license had been issued to an anti-social element in the past, then it must be cancelled immediately. Similarly, it had also been ordered that a license should be issued only where it is utmost and genuinely required. The Punjab government had also imposed a blanket ban on the public display of arms and ammunition, including on social media platforms.