Tamil Nadu adds 2,510 gun licences in 6 months after polls

Nationwide, Uttar Pradesh topped the list of states with active gun licences with a mind boggling 12.77 lakh people carrying fire arms, followed by militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir where 3.69 lakh people possess licences for arms. 

In UP, most of the licences were taken in the name of personal security. 

The Home Ministry says that the country has a total of 33,69,444 active gun licences as on December 31, 2016. Punjab has 3,59,349 active gun licences, most of which were issued during the two decades wherein militancy had engulfed the state. 

There are 2,47,130 active gun licences in Madhya Pradesh, followed by Haryana where 1,41,926 people have licenced weapons. 

In Rajasthan 1,33,968 people have licences, Karnataka has 1,13,631 licence holders, followed by Maharashtra with 84,050, Bihar with 82,585, Himachal Pradesh with 77,069, Uttarakhand with 64,770, Gujarat with 60,784 and West Bengal with 60,525 gun licences.

Delhi has 38,754 licenced gun holders, Nagaland 36,606, Arunachal Pradesh 34,394, Manipur 26,836, Tamil Nadu 22,532 and Odisha issued 20,588 licences, the statistics said. 

Assam has 19,283 active gun licence holders, Meghalaya 18,688, Jharkhand 17,654, Mizoram 15,895 and Kerala 9,459. The lowest number of gun licences is being issued in small Union territories like Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, where 125 gun licences each were issued, the ministry added.

In Chennai, you will have to get a gun licence from the City Police Commissioner before you purchase a weapon. One has to specify the reason for the decision to buy a gun and also give details of the type of firearm he or she is planning to buy from armoury. Police will issue licence only after proper verification. “If you say you have threat, the police will assess the threat perceptions before issuing a gun licence,” a senior police official said.