Capital’s gun shops not gung-ho any more as sales go off target

NEW DELHI: Whenever there is gun firing in schools in the United States, the shots are heard with consternation in Delhi. “Ours is a very sensitive trade and an incident of this sort affects us more severely than it does their National Rifle Association,” says Anil Sawhney, owner of Delhi Gun House at Kashmere Gate. Sawhney isn’t exaggeratinng. While the American gun rights organisation has staunchly weathered all hostile criticism in the face of increasing incidence of public use of weapons, the gun trade in the capital is almost at an impasse.
Gun sellers claim that the several bans on hunting, amateur shooting, import of guns and on foreign ammunition are reasons why sales have turned sluggish. As far back as four years ago, the number of guns sold in a year in Delhi had come down from around 500 to a tenth of that. Rifles hardly sell these days, the .32 bore revolver being the one sought by customers in the capital and for which police get the most applications.

At Singh Arms Corporation neighbouring Sawhney’s establishment, Charan Pal Singh Ghei has stocked quality gun holsters, which are now the primary sale items in one of Delhi’s oldest weapons stores. In his 80s now, the old man recalls the 1950s as being the golden age for the trade. People bought firearms then for hunting and for amateur sports. “Today, the primary reason for buying a gun is self-defence, but we can sell arms only according to the licences issued by the authorities,” explains Ghei, who is president of the Delhi Arms Dealers Association.

Sawhney has turned to exporting weapon-cleaning kits and knives to Europe to augment his meagre trade in air pistols and rifles. “New laws are being drafted to ensure digitisation of licence renewals, but there are teething problems,” Sawhney says, ruing the reduction of his business to a mere 25% of what it was a decade ago. Like him, many others too have taken to marketing air pistols, which don’t require a licence. At least, this business is doing well, helped in no small measure by India’s marksmen making a splash in international shooting championships.

But licensing procedures continue to remain a hurdle, often hitting the supply of bullets and accessories. “I ordered items worth Rs 60 lakh a year ago, but my licence has been pending renewal for a year. In the mean time, I’ve run out of ammunitions,” grumbles one seller. “The ordnance factories won’t give my trucks travel papers until my licence is cleared.”

To the legitimate gun sellers’ chagrin, however, there is a thriving grey market for firearms. “Getting a licensed gun requires verification and the price is prohibitive. I got one for half the Rs 75,000 that I would have paid for it legally,” confided one buyer. “It is easy to procure them and there’s no difference in the gun quality.”

Delhi policemen confirmed the easy availability of sophisticated illegal weapons in the city, with one officer claiming that products are smuggled out of ordnance factories for grey-market disposal.