Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday clarified that the state is expanding arms licence services, not handing out guns, amid growing concerns from experts that higher gun prevalence could increase risks of injury, death, and wildlife poaching.
The clarification came amid a plan to let indigenous residents in identified “vulnerable” areas apply online via Sewa Setu.
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Meanwhile, public-health and conservation experts caution that higher gun prevalence is associated with increased risks of injury, death, and wildlife poaching, urging strict screening and non-lethal safety measures alongside any licensing push.
“Contrary to misleading reports, the Government of Assam will only provide an arms license to people who fulfill various norms. We are NOT PROVIDING arms to people. This is not permissible by law,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X on Thursday.
The CM’s clarification follows the official launch of arms licence services as a citizen service, targeted at original inhabitants in sensitive pockets; officials say applications will undergo multi-layer verification and security checks. Recent coverage has emphasized that licences, not weapons, are in scope, and the policy excludes interstate border areas.
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What the law says: India does not recognize a fundamental right to own guns; arms licensing is a statutory privilege under the Arms Act, 1959, and Arms Rules (notably updated in 2016). Courts have repeatedly held that authorities may grant or deny licences case by case; misuse attracts penalties.
Globally, firearm availability correlates with higher risks of homicide, suicide, and accidental injury; the past decade saw an estimated 2.75 million firearm deaths worldwide, a major public health burden.
“When more firearms enter rural landscapes, the first victims are often wild animals. Poachers can act faster, and retaliatory killings during human wildlife conflicts can rise sharply,” said a senior wildlife biologist based in Assam.
Evidence reviews also support stronger prohibitions tied to domestic violence risk as a harm reduction tool. These trends inform Indian debates over loosening access, even with licensing.
In Assam and neighboring regions, poachers frequently rely on firearms; shooting is the most common method for killing rhinos, while elephant and other megafauna cases have exposed trafficking networks using guns and gunpowder.
“One bullet can end decades of conservation work. The more guns in circulation, the harder it is to protect endangered species like the one-horned rhino,” warned a retired Kaziranga forest officer.
Assam’s recent Operation Falcon has arrested dozens linked to rhino poaching attempts, and elsewhere, officials have seized 1,000+ country-made guns from poachers in just two years, underscoring how firearm access fuels wildlife crime.
Researchers also warn that more weapons in rural frontiers can escalate retaliatory killings during human wildlife conflicts (for example, after livestock depredation), complicating conservation gains in parks like Kaziranga and Manas.
“Non-lethal deterrents like solar fencing, sirens, or rapid-response teams save both people and wildlife; guns do not,” added a conservation NGO worker.
The Assam government’s move is about licences, not distributing guns, but any increase in civilian firearms, even under screening, carries non-trivial risks to household safety and to wildlife. Experts recommend pairing stringent vetting and renewal audits with stronger domestic-violence safeguards, safe-storage rules, targeted policing of illicit arms, and scaled-up non-lethal human wildlife conflict mitigation (early-warning systems, fencing, rapid response teams).