Kiren Rijiju, the Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports on Thursday said that the ministry has written to the Home Minister asking him to ease norms for shooters in the Arms Amendment Bill 2019.
"From my Ministry, we have written to the Home Ministry asking for certain relaxations in norms for the pro shooters, so that they can own multiple guns after attaining license so that they keep practising shooting for various competitions," Rijiju told ANI.
"The Home Ministry has already incorporated certain relaxations for the shooters on the request of the Sports Ministry so we are very happy that attention has been paid to our request," he added.
Rajiv Bhatia, the Secretary of the National Rifle Association of India on Wednesday said the federation had written to the Home Minister Amit Shah, asking for exemption of shooters from the Bill.
"There is one more issue which NRAI has requested from me and I am discussing it with the Home Ministry. The Bill is already tabled in the Parliament, so whatever changes have to be done in the provision of the Act, it has to be done in Parliament," Rijiju said.
The Arms Amendment Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on November 29, 2019.
It seeks to amend the Arms Act, 1959. It aims to decrease the number of licensed firearms allowed per person and increase penalties for certain offences under the Act.
Under the Act, a license must be obtained to acquire, possess, or carry any firearm. The Bill reduces the number of permitted firearms from three to one.
The Act bans the manufacture, sale, use, transfer, conversion, testing or proofing of firearms without a license.
The Arms Amendment Bill prohibits obtaining or procuring un-licensed firearms, and the conversion of one category of firearms to another without a license.
