Look at Gun Violence in The US Before Coming to Our Supreme Court Asking States to Examine Socio-Economic Reasons Behind Demand for Illegal Arms
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Let Us Briefly Look at Gun Violence in The US Before Coming to Our Supreme Court Asking States to Examine Socio-Economic Reasons Behind Demand for Illegal Arms
Facts and Figures tell us about the alarming state of gun violence in the United States and the political and social causes of this entrenched problem.
Gun violence is one of the acutest social problems in the United States, with ramifications not only for the victims and their families, but also for the entire society and country. In addition to the casualties caused and the threat to public security, it has also resulted in enormous economic losses and social trauma for the nation.
The United States is the country with the most civilian-held firearms. With less than 5 percent of the world’s population, it accounts for 46 percent of global civilian gun ownership. As estimated by the Small Arms Survey in Switzerland, the global stockpile of civilian-held firearms has increased from 650 million in 2006 to 857 million in 2017, largely attributable to soaring figures in the United States. In 2017, about 393.3 million guns were privately owned in the United States at a time when its population was less than 326.5 million. This amounts to 120.5 firearms for every 100 people. The second-ranked country was war-torn Yemen, with 52.8 guns per 100 people. While the United States ranks first in the world in terms of both individual gun ownership and the number of guns per capita, only about 1.07 million civilian guns are registered, indicating that the vast majority of firearms owned by civilians are left unregistered and uncounted.
The Indian Supreme Court on Tuesday termed possession of unlicensed weapons “a real problem” and said the government has to make it a serious offence.
The court made this observation after receiving responses from a few states on the number of incidents across states involving illegal weapons. On April 13, the court had issued notices to all states and Union territories to ascertain the crimes involving use of unlicensed firearms and steps taken by the respective administrations and police establishments to deal with the menace.
The bench of justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna observed that the crime involving illegal weapons was largely prevalent in the northern states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and others. Among the states which filed their responses, Tamil Nadu was the only exception to have not a single incident of illegal arms.
“This is becoming a real problem,” the bench told advocate Rajat Nair appearing for Centre, while adding, “The government has to make it a serious offence or else invariably you will see people being booked under Arms Act.” The use of illegal or unlicensed arms in commission of crime is punishable under Arms Act with a minimum sentence of three years and maximum sentence of 7 years.
Drawing a comparison with the United States where several instances have emerged of individuals going on a shooting spree in malls and schools resulting in casualties, the bench remarked, “Look at how the US is suffering. There they have a fundamental right to possess arms. Here it is not and still we are suffering. It is a serious affair.”
Nair told the court that a legislative amendment may require consultation with states as law and order is a state subject. The bench wished to know if the scale at which unlicensed weapons were used in northern states prevailed in south and northeast. Senior advocate S Nagamuthu assisting the court as amicus curiae told the court that this could be gathered only after receiving responses from all states/UTs.
While posting the matter to a further date , the bench remarked, “You have to go into the socio-economic reasons why there is demand for such illegal arms.” Nagamuthu assisted by advocate Anish R Shah agreed to make a thorough study in this regard.
The matter was taken up suo moto in a matter from Uttar Pradesh where the court was dealing with a bail petition by one Rajendra Singh involved in murdering a man with an unlicensed gun. His bail plea was rejected by the Allahabad high court against which he approached the top court.
Conclusion: use of illegal firearms is a menace affecting the right to life:
The Supreme Court on Thursday sought information from the Centre, states and Union Territories on the steps taken to curb the use of illegal firearms, calling it as “menace” affecting the right to life.
A bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna, which was hearing a suo motu case registered by the court, asked the Directors General of Police of the states to furnish data related to cases registered under the Arms Act over the years.
It also asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to file an affidavit indicating steps taken for implementation of the Arms Act and suggestions to strengthen law enforcement.
“This matter is serious as it affects the right to life. Issue notice to all the states and Union Territories indicating the steps taken to deal with the menace of unlicensed firearms and the cases registered over the years. All the DGPs file separate affidavits on these two aspects. Notice be also issued to the Ministry of Home Affairs with regard to implementation of the Act and suggestions to strengthen the law,” the bench said.
The court said it is of the greatest significance to preserve life and resort must not be made to unlicensed firearms.
“In particular, if unlicensed firearms are freely used, this will sound the death knell of rule of law. We deem it appropriate, therefore, to make use of this case to ascertain and do whatever may be necessary so that the problem of unlicensed firearms is firmly dealt with by the authorities,” it said.
Proprietary blog of Karma Global Tech Management LLC
This blog has been collated and compiled by the internal staff of Karma Global with the knowledge and expertise that they possess, besides adaptation, illustration, derivation, transformation, collection as well as auto generation from various sources, for its monthly newsletter Issue 12 of June 2023 and in case of specific or general information or compliance updates for that matter, kindly reach out to the Marketing Team – Kush@karmamgmt.com / yashika@karmamgmt.com