An RTI application to city police has revealed that there are now 17,000 arm licence holders in city and their numbers are growing. This means that for every ward in Bengaluru, there are 100 plus guns. In the next three months, the number of gun licence holders will scale 25,000, feel police officials.
The latest gang war on Tumkur Road where a gang of armed men attacked and killed BEML Krishnappa, is an eye-opener to the gun culture that the city is witnessing. Most gun licences were issued in the last four years, says a senior police officer, stating that there is no danger from a major chunk of gun licence holders. But the list of people who are seeking fire arms is growing. First, it was residents living on the city outskirts, later it was people from real estate and films.
Now, police point out that even bigwigs in educational institutions are applying for personal gun licences in large numbers. City police feel that there are no reasons to worry, as most licence holders do not actually possess arms. “It’s not necessary that every licence holder possesses fire arms. Also this is not possible in many cases as the licence is renewed but the fire arm is not serviced. Though the number of licence holders is inching close to 20,000 there is no reason for worry. There are only 5,000 needy citizens who possess fire arms such as ex military officials, police officials and security guards,” adds a senior police officer. Police claim that there is a stringent procedure to procure an arms licence.
Training is compulsory for all licence holders but many do not attend such courses. “Show me once instance where the licence holder of a fire arm has actually used the weapon for self defence. Two years ago, a businessman and shot and killed a member of a sandalwood smuggling gang which had entered his house on Bannerghatta road. Apart from this incident, there has been no cases where weapons are used for the reasons they are procured,” lamented the officer.
Police also fear that weapons might reach wrong hands and fall in the reach of children.