If there was a mad man whose only ambition was to own more and more weapons to party like Pablo Escobar, Pakistan is probably the country to go to, because gun laws there are an unfunny joke.
We hear every now and then about ceasefire violations at the LoC (Line of Control), but even that is the army doing it – legal usage of weapons. What about the crores of rifles and pistols owned by the common public? Yes, that is true!
The population of Pakistan is 21.22 crores – about 7 times lesser than India. And there are about 4 crore firearms in public ownership in Pakistan, thrice the number of public-owned firearms in India.
Darra Adam Khel
It had me cracked up in laughter when I read an article in The Print, where a firearms dealer said, and I quote, “The industry has collapsed. Earlier, people would come from all over the world to buy weapons. Now, we are only allowed to manufacture licenced weapons”.
I do not understand when it became a sad thing to manufacture only licenced weapons. But then I get it – there is an entire valley in Pakistan called Darra Adam Khel, which produces weapons like crazy.
Yes, you read that right. An entire valley of weapons manufacturers, with an approximate population of 80,000 and over 2,000 firearms manufacturing shops.
The name Darra Adam Khel is ironically associated with a public hero, who taught British officers a lesson. Now, the valley is an IKEA for weapons.
You name a weapon, chances are, they make it. Common sightings of weapons that you would have seen in India are pistols and small range firearms; maybe even rifles in some parts of the country.
Common sightings in our western neighbour are rocket-propelled grenades, medium and long-range rockets launchers, anti-aircraft guns, machine guns, light machine guns, mortars, shotguns, automatics and the good old AK-47s.
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Funny And Scary At The Same Time
When I started writing this article, I could not decide whether to laugh or be scared when I read about gun laws in Pakistan. The constitution there does not outright allow firearm possession.
But here are certain incidents that should tell you how much the constitutional gun control laws are effective there. Very recently, a video went viral on Twitter showing a lady gifting her son-in-law an AK-47 at his wedding. Cheers could be heard in the background.
A typical Pakistani wedding where the groom is presented with an
AK 47 by his adoring mother. His blushing bride looks on with pride.Today on 26/11 we must understand that to our west is society that is fast imploding. Terrorism is an honoured profession.#PakTerrorState pic.twitter.com/hYVs7VBh2S
— Major Gaurav Arya (Retd) (@majorgauravarya) November 26, 2020
Aerial shooting of rifles is a pretty common sighting during weddings, festivals and special occasions. Now you’ll say, apne UP mein bhi toh hota hai! Cool. Explain this: Open carry of firearms in Pakistan is considered a misdemeanour.
Starting from the 1947 war, where Pakistani forces trained lashkars and gave them weapons to attack Jammu and Kashmir (the then-princely state) to the alleged ongoing funding and training of more and more terrorists to infiltrate India – weapons are available for sale in Pakistan like pan.
If you open this beautiful resourceful website called gunpolicy.org and open Pakistan’s page, it says two things that scare the living soul out of me.
One: the regulation of guns in Pakistan is categorized as permissive. Two: The number of civilian guns increased from about 2 crores to 4 crores 40 lakhs over a period of 10 years (2007-2017). If these don’t scare you, you work for Kaleen Bhaiya.
Moreover, making firearms is a generational thing for certain families! Pakistan has a major firearms problem but there is hardly any debate about it. What’s there to debate when it is a part of certain cultures there?
Although, this article is not an insult to any Pakistani citizen in any way. There are several people trying to fight this poisonous culture of bullets and bucks.
But when the government itself is establishing a new intelligence agency instead of trying to control issues that plague the public, we can’t expect much to change anytime soon.
No one wants war. But I believe that the ideology of weapons as a part of culture needs to be uprooted first before even talking of war.
Image Source: Google Images
Sources: The Print, Gun Policy Org, Wikipedia
Connect With The Blogger: @som_beingme
This post is tagged under: Pakistan television, china occupied kashmir, firearms manufacturing, gun regulation laws, infiltration jammu kashmir, ISI, pakistan army, pakistan occupied kashmir
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Bro, Darra Adam Khel is not what it used to be. A lot of those shops have been displaced to industrial estates near Peshawar and now operate under firearms manufacturing license, producing clones of foreign firearms of varying quality. A handful make their original designs. Slowly the quality of arms and ammuntion is improving but we have a long way to go before it can be considered export quality. You can’t just drive up there and buy any unlicensed firearm or ammunition anymore. Import of firearms and ammunition was restricted for the last 5-6 years, until very recently. Sports or recreational shooting is a growing sport but still only for a small section of the firearm owners. Almost a majority of the firearm owners use them only for weddings and celebratory firing. A lot are not safe to shoot and the owners just stow them away once the initial excitement dies down.
My understanding of Indian firearms manufacturing and regulations is negligible but citizens should be able to keep firearms in a responsible manner and be able to train and shoot them at regulated ranges. In Pakistan, while we do not have a constitutional right to possess firearms, obtaining a license is relatively hassle-free, if not closed, and relevant authorities cannot refuse an application unless based on previous criminal record, or being on a terrorism watch list or belonging to a militant organization, or being of unsound mind etc. The minimum age for possession varies from 21 to 25.
The Pakistani weapon culture is strong, deep-rooted and based on longstanding traditions. It is also evolving. However, Pakistan is not like e.g. Switzerland where there is a legal requirement for all eligible adults to have basic proficiency in rifle shooting and to possess a rifle in good working condition.
It’s a nightmare for people that had only one thing in their mind, oppressing the weak. The one that the world had synonime for that, Hindoos
Hello i am from Pakistan, i got a shotgun and 9mm licensed weapons, i use the 12guage to check on feral dogs jackals that kill my livestock. Indians make fun of our gun laws but what about USA why you will never talk about them? Almost everyone in the us have a glock but no indian will say anything because they are goras. Right? Goras can get away with anything and there is more gun violence in the us than Pak i am sure. One day i wish there will be no hate btw india and pak and there will be peace all over Inshallah
To put it simply, don’t waste your time reading this bullcrap. Its basically just thrashing Pakistan.
I am Pakistani and I, myself didn’t know most of these “Facts”.
India will try any soft power mechanism to weaken us from inside.fact
Bashing Pakistan’s gun problem is all fun and games until a war takes place and Indian army gets fked if it manages to enter any civilian agglomeration with the Pakistani population having 30 guns per Indian soldier. Whereas if the opposite were to happen, we would enter India unopposed.
Pakistan has one of the strongest and strangest law for weapons. Open carry is prohibited unless you’re a law enforcement (I.e. police, military). You can have up to three weapons licenses and even with that you can only have it in your vehicle, house, or in your private business. I’m done explaining due to that what is the problem with guns and why some goon from India writing about guns laws in Pakistan where he can’t/allowed to go to Pakistan. I’m US citizen and I have a lot of experience and respect for gun owners. This fuck face twist words around and inserted J&K in the middle of his bullshit article to readers to go on read further about J&K (nothing wrong with that) but what he doesn’t know that Indians are the one who are depriving the people of Kashmir of their rights not the Pakistani. I think if we the US didn’t have economics interest in India we would got ride of them a long time and do them just like the British did them. I hate people when they talk negatively about guns. Show me war that was fought without war and point out a bad person that will follow the law for any reason. Bad guy doesn’t search his rights or how the law is applicable/applies to him when he/she is committing a crime(s). You should always be packing mother fucker…
Sorry for all the grammar errors. I should have proofread my comment but “hey” who gives a fuck.
A man with a briefcase can steal millions more than any man with a gun. There are hundreds of millions of gun owners in this country, and not one of them will have an accident today. The only misuse of guns comes in environments where there are drugs, alcohol, bad parents, and undisciplined children. Period.
This entire article was extremely stupid to read. Like KingofAllKhans said, the use of guns for negative purposes only surfaces in places with drugs, alcohol and parents that don’t discipline their kids because of “Child Abuse”. I haven’t seen you talking about America’s gun laws that makes it so actual children can walk around with guns. You westerns mock our gun and violence laws yet you have a school shooting or a major case of knife violence at least 7 times a month. Please do your research next time.
Myself Rajdeep Mukherjee and i support gun-culture. Once we are a country of rich culture of martial arts and arms but we lost it for our stupidity. Still fighting for it and we will prevail.
A proud Hindu son of Maa Bharati. Jai Hind.