Bangalore city takes to arms for self-defence

Bangalore city takes to arms for self-defence



Rakhshita AdyanthayaFirst Published : 13 Apr 2009 09:11:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 13 Apr 2009 12:52:22 PM IST
BANGALORE: A fear psychosis seems to be creeping into Bangalore due to the alarming rise in burglaries, murders and other violent crimes.
Even as Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari tells citizens to shoot in self-defence, people are bracing for some action.
The number of people enrolling into rifle training sessions has seen a sudden spurt. DCP CAR North, VS Prabhakar said, “After the Mumbai terror attacks a number of star-hotel security personnel approached us for training and we have trained six batches of security personnel.
Even the response from the civilians was good and we h ave a lready trained th ree batches. However we expect the trainees to take it a step forward and make positive use of their training.” MR Poojar, Additional Commissioner, Law and Order, however, worries about the misuse of arms.
“The recent cases where a businessman shot his wife and then himself and where a woman borrowed a weapon from her friend to shoot her lover shows us that using a weapon on provocation is wrong and one has to understand when and where they have to use it. Even if the weapon is misused by someone other than the real owner, the licencee is held responsible.” To prevent misuse, the procedure of obtaining an arms license has been made a little tougher. Six months back a new order was released stating that only those who are certified to have been trained in using a weapon can apply for the licence with the Commissioner.
Acting on the present situation, seven businessmen have joined hands to start an association, Civilian Rifle Training Association which has more than 100 members already.
Talking to Express, General Secretary of the Association, Y H Anand said, “We all had gone for the rifle training course before getting the permission for the license. But we were unsure about the legalities of using a weapon for self-defence. So w e decided to start an as- sociation to basically educate the common man on this issue.” However, the city police say that a number of people approach their stations as they need an approval from the local police station before they request for a gun license.
“We screen the applications for people with criminal background. Only if the weapon is required for selfdefence do we approve the application,” said an Inspector.
“Though we are not directly benefited by training civilians, we expect them to reduce our burden by safeguarding themselves,” he added.