Cabinet approves official amendments to the Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2019

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given ex-post facto approval for official amendments to the Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2019 moved and passed by the Lok Sabha on December 9th, 2019.

Benefits

It shall deter the potential perpetrators from indulging in illegal arms and ammunition trade and its manufacturing, stream line licensing provisions, better address the present day security needs and effectively deal with the incidents and proliferation and trade of illicit arms and ammunition.  At the same time, it will facilitate law abiding licence holders of arms by increasing the duration of arms licence.

The approved amendments to the Arms Act are a step forward in providing licence in electronic form longer validity period of licenses and stricter regulatory mechanism to check illegal possession arms by proposing stricter punishment provisions.