Guns, Goons and Government Policies.
Missing legally-owned arms, 10 thousand and counting …
A national Daily reported in January 17, 2005 that, About 5 thousand Arms are missing and the authorities could not trace them, although those arms were purchased against licenses issued by the authorities.
In April, 2007 a Daily reported that “10 Thousand Legal Arms Missing|| Police and Detectives to recover them”… The news also mentions that “government authorities have issued about 194000 Licenses and about 119000 License holders have purchased arms, among them about 10000 gun-owners did not respond to calls from the government to surrender their arms.” Those arms are missing! Simply put: preposterous.
The Daily quoted (2005) the authorities that, there were about 135,000 Licenses issued for Big, Heavy and Light arms. Though ‘Big’ and ‘Heavy’ must be a misnomer here! They are not for civilians! What authorities (or the reporter) meant by ‘Big’ and ‘Heavy’ is not clear, though, I assume Big could be ‘Long Guns’ (Rifle/Shotguns) and ‘Heavy’ might be larger calibre guns but certainly Non-Prohibited Bores (NPB: between .22 and .32 calibres allowed for civilians).
This is another funny as well as a serious issue: the NPB. Where there are AK47 and other heavy (in real sense) weapons (and nowadays Grenades) in the hands of criminals, there should not be so many restrictions for law-abiding civilians to buy arms to protect their life and properties such as NPB rule.
Control Guns or Goons?
"The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles." Jeff Cooper
If law enforcement departments, Detective and Intelligence branches are taking careful measures to identify who is getting Arms Licenses during routine investigative procedure after an applicant asks for a license (and if they are not influenced by Political and bureaucratic superiors) then eligible citizens will be able to get licenses without hindrance and criminals would not be able to impersonate as law abiding citizens and will not get an easy access to pursue this facility.
The current procedure1 to be eligible to get an arms license is somewhat unrealistic, even tyrannical. According to the directives issued from the Ministry of Home Affaires, there are categories of citizens who are eligible for arms license, such as:
- As mentioned in the warrant of precedence, the Govt. Ministers, persons with equivalent rank and honour, Joint Secretary and persons with equivalent rank and honour.
2. Government declared CIP's.
3. First-Class Govt. officials (Military/Civil, both Active and Retired).
4. Businessmen who’s Income Tax return is BDT200, 000.00 or more per annum.
These criteria mentioned above are quite disturbing! It is indeed intimidating. For instance, many people are living in rural areas such as the wealthy farmers, elected people’s representatives like UP Chairman and Members who will never be able to meet any one of those criterion mentioned above. They might have requirements of guns for protection or pest control; do they have any option to acquire one?
Nonetheless, many people living in the cities, with valid reasons, are required to keep guns for self-defence. But there is no way for them to get licenses according to the aforesaid criteria. Moreover, those people under the above categories are already enjoying facilities that ensure their safety and security.
Shooting Sports: a Contingent of Peashooters!
The BSS website says about shooting sports “At a time when no one could think of winning even a medal in a big shooting event, Atiqur Rahman and Abdus Sattar Nini won the gold in pairs 10m air pistol demonstrating unmatched marksmanship in the 14th Commonwealth Games shooting competition in Auckland in 1990. Their shooting prowess also earned for them a bronze in pairs 50m free pistol event in the meet. But when everybody started expecting success in shooting, no big achievements could be made in shooting any more. However, Bangladesh is winning gold medals regularly in the SAF games.”
Shooter Abdus Sattar Nini and Atique brought great honour for our nation. Later, other shooters also earned many medals in this discipline. Even though, till today, how many incentives been given to shooters? Rather, they were beaten in public – inside their campus – later in the Police Station. Why?
Recently, Manchester Commonwealth Games gold-winning shooter Asif Hossain Khan returned from Beijing being disqualified for the next Olympic Shooting event due to post injury complications inflicted by the beating.2 It’s not just a matter of beatings; it is the attitude of the Masters. Moreover, nothing has been done to reconcile – justice being delayed.
Our shooters do not have proper remunerations, equipments and career-path. Unfortunately, the Shooting Federation of Bangladesh did not come out with any solution though they have had spent huge sum for decades; member clubs are unable to support their shooters alone.
Weapons, ammunitions and other accessories are very scarce – even for our renowned national team. Government policy made it nearly impossible importing required arms, ammunitions and accessories: the Federation could not get permission to import even.177 airgun pallets …during the tenure of last political government. I just do not want to believe this! Do they want us to be peashooters again?
Hunting: It’s not just killing.
Hunting is banned in Bangladesh. The reason primarily shown by the authorities is “keeping the fowls and fauna of Bangladesh including the migratory birds safe from extinction”. Is it true? Does this ban could really protect our birds and animals? Everyone who delves into this field knows that hunting is not totally stopped. And, it should not be. A careful plan for seasonal hunting in particular areas will generate revenues, benefit businesses and will create employment that will contribute to our national economy.
Those, who call hunters blood-thirsty killers killing for joy, are not necessarily vegetarians. People all over the world including the animal rights activists are not all vegetarians as well. What they do (except the orthodox veggies) eat kebobs, grills, wings or drum-sticks plenty but do not like to admit that those meats, chickens come from live animals and birds. They were living creatures and slaughtered or killed then arranged to the table by gastronomists.
See how many animals and birds are killed, slaughtered everyday for our dinner? Then compare how many are shot by hunters. In the name of conservation or animal rights, the tradition of hunting must not be banned. Hunting should be regulated for preserving the fauna, fowls and the tradition of our forefathers.
It’s not just sports, it’s about Rights: the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
Another quote from Jeff Cooper: "An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it."
Above all, the government authorities must not revoke the rights of citizens. It should help people to defend themselves and encourage them to fight crime and corruption. Armed law abiding citizens are like auxiliary law enforcement forces – if they are motivated and trained properly. £
Author:
Abdullah Rakeeb
Shooting Enthusiast & RKBA Advocate
Life & EC Member: Gulshan Shooting Club, GSC, Bangladesh
Regular Member: National Rifle Association of America, NRA, USA
Clubman (O) Member: Clay Pigeon Shooting Association, CPSA, UK
2 see photo: http://www.newagebd.com/2006/oct/03/img8.html
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