Mumbai Constabulary Had 577 Firearms

[Chris_]

Snippets

The state constabulary was grossly unprepared to deal with the worst-ever terror attacks on the metropolis because of an acute shortage of weapons and ammunition.

...had a meagre 577 firearms for all of Mumbai

In the absence of a firing range and of ammunition for practice, members of the law enforcement agencies have not opened fire in the last ten years. ‘‘I’ve been in the police force for a long time, but I had no occasion to open fire for practice,’’ a senior inspector of police said.

‘‘We have constables who have not opened fire even for practice ever since their recruitment,’’ the official said.

The manual also prescribes mandatory training for all officials, especially shooting practice at the firing range. According to a senior IPS official, the norms prescribed in the manual now exist only on paper because of the acute shortage of ammunition for practice and the non-availability of a firing range.

Link

[mamacags]

Holy crap!  That is like going on a trip to Siberia in a swim suit.  How could any metropolitan city be that unprepared!??!

[Chris_]

A Google on "India Gun Laws" turns up this gem in the first couple of results:

India became independent in 1947, but it still took 12 years before this act was finally repealed. In 1959 the British era Indian Arms Act, 1878 (11 of 1878.) was finally consigned to history and a new act, the Arms Act, 1959 was enacted. This was later supplemented by the Arms Rules, 1962. Unfortunately this new legislation was also formulated based on the Indian Government's innate distrust its own citizens. Though somewhat better than the British act, this legislation gave vast arbitrary powers to the "Licensing Authorities", in effect ensuring that it is often difficult and sometimes impossible for an ordinary law abiding Indian citizen to procure an arms license.

"A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie." -- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

Also the policy of throttling private arms manufacturing was continued even after independence. Limits on the quantity and type of arms that could be produced by private manufacturers were placed - ensuring that the industry could never hope to be globally competitive and was instead consigned to producing cheap shotguns, of mostly indifferent quality, in small quantities. A citizen wishing to purchase a decent firearm depended solely on imports, which were a bit more expensive but vastly superior in quality.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Thanks to their Brit influence, Pakistan has equally Draconian firearms laws.  Of course once you are a day's travel outside of Islamabad, the clever little workmen in the villages will happily sell you a local copy any weapon they've ever taken apart and could obtain a round for, up to and including small automatic cannon and HMGs, particularly in the Tribal Regions.  The workmanship is surprisingly good, though the quality of the materials is pretty unpredictable. 

[Airwolf]

And once again the liberal mindset of guns for us but not for thee has resulted in numerous dead innocents.

[Wineslob]

What did you expect from a turd world nation??

[LC EFA]

Related ...

INDIAN police who bore the brunt of last week's attacks on Mumbai had defective bulletproof vests, World War I-era firearms and insufficient weapons training, police sources said.
Many wore plastic helmets and body protectors designed for sticks and stones, rather than bullets, as they fought highly trained militants armed with AK47 rifles, pistols, grenades and explosives, The Australian reports.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24748163-401,00.html?from=public_rss

I hope this serves as a major wakeup call to the Indian Government.