Assam's alarming push towards a dangerous gun culture

The State Cabinet's decision to facilitate arms licences to "eligible original inhabitants and indigenous Indian citizens residing in vulnerable, remote and border areas" in order to tackle "unlawful threats from hostile quarters" is preposterous. The move is replete with sinister portents, not the least a likely gun culture it could trigger when firearms possession is made easy.

More than being a deterrent to criminals and crimes, it is likely to result in a situation of perpetual strife in which violence will beget violence. Another serious risk as corroborated by disturbing instances in societies where arms licensing is lax - concerns a spurt in crimes by civilians. Yet another danger lies in such guns turning on the family members of the possessor himself. Few people are reasonable enough to handle firearms and we only need to see the impact of a perverse gun culture in the US civil society.

Having an easy licensing regime will be far more disastrous here, given our growing intolerance and predilection towards crimes. Holding a gun calls for adequate knowledge, training and responsibility - not just about arms but about many other things, too. This is far from being a child's play but the Assam government seems to think otherwise.

In India, we have an extremely strict arms law for all good reasons and this has held our society in good stead. We have never witnessed a single incident of a civilian running amok with an assault rifle or even a revolver.

The government's imprudent move also brings with it another serious question of whether it has chosen to abdicate its constitutional mandate of providing security to the lives and property of the people. Even the premise of the government's reasoning-that indigenous and original people living in remote border areas (read minority-dominated areas) need protection seems rather far-fetched.

If at all there is some threat perception, it is the duty of the government to strengthen the law and order machinery in every vulnerable area and not ask the people to buy firearms. And since the government has cited a number of places having this security threat, only "mass licensing" will serve the government's purpose.

One cannot be blamed for sensing a "they vs us" narrative in this latest brainwave of the government. As for crimes, the State capital Guwahati is perhaps the worst affected in the whole of Assam, and going by the government's logic, Guwahatians should be the first to get a gun licence. With such audacious rationale, all the government will achieve is legalisation of a gun culture and a lasting situation of strife in the State's social life as also in our homes.

Assam is having a high incidence of crimes, including murders. Instead of devising the best way to combat crimes and criminals, the government could well be mulling arming every citizen with firearms!