Arms Act 1959
Definition
Principal Indian statute regulating manufacture, possession, transport and sale of firearms and ammunition. Possession of an unlicensed country-made firearm is punishable under Sections 25 and 27.
- Jurisdiction
- India
- Subject
- Manufacture, possession, transport, sale of firearms and ammunition
- Key offence sections
- Sections 25 and 27
- Superseded rules
- Replaced by Arms Rules 2016
Common questions
What does Section 25 of the Arms Act punish specifically?+
Section 25 penalizes possession of a firearm or ammunition in contravention of the licensing requirements of the Act, which covers the common scenario of an unlicensed country-made pistol such as a katta or tamancha.
How does Section 27 differ from Section 25 in a firearms prosecution?+
Section 27 addresses the use of an illegal firearm to cause death or injury, carrying substantially harsher penalties than the possession offence under Section 25, so the two sections are often charged together when an unlicensed weapon was actually fired at a victim.
Related terms
- Country-Made Firearm
- An illicitly manufactured firearm, fabricated in unlicensed cottage workshops without quality control, typically smoothbore and chambered loosely. Generic Indian umbrella for katta,...
- Katta
- Single-shot crude pistol, usually.315 or 12 bore, with a break-action or screw-plug breech and a nail-head striking pin. Dominant illicit firearm in...
- Mikrosil Casting
- Two-part silicone casting compound used to make a negative replica of a chamber, breech face or tool-mark. Standard at Indian CFSL ballistics...
- Obturation
- The gas-sealing function of the cartridge case during firing, in which the case wall expands outward under propellant pressure to seal the...
- Pipe-Gun
- Single-shot improvised firearm built from a steel water pipe as the barrel and a sliding sleeve as the firing mechanism. Used as...
- Smoothbore
- An unrifled barrel with no spiral grooves. Gives little or no stria on a fired projectile, which makes comparison microscopy of country-made...
- Tamancha
- Generic Urdu / Hindi term for a small improvised pistol. Often used interchangeably with katta in case papers and FIRs.