STOP SELLING AIR GUNS WITHOUT LICENSES!

BY NOLAN PINTO

2 playful monkeys were shot dead on the 18th of January in the premises of the posh Raheja Residency in Koramangala. The individual who did this was an educated man, a techie.

Picture courtesy- lite.epaper.timesofindia.com

Since he allegedly felt troubled by these monkeys, he shot them using his air gun. As of today, he is absconding and neither the police nor the forest officials have been able to track him.

Whats even more surprising is that he is just a techie and not some big shot executive, politician or the lot for the police to be unable to arrest him or maybe he is actually somebody! Imagine, in today's India, getting arrested and being answerable to the law many a time depends on who you are or who you know, sad.

Now what we have gathered is that while one monkey died on the spot, the other struggled for a good 30 odd minutes. I thought to myself why nobody bothered to do anything about it. One good Samaritan who found out about this incident and whose father was in the ICU actually called a Vet and in his car took the poor injured monkey to the Vet's clinic but unfortunately due to the delay and traffic on the roads, it passed away in his car. For so many people out there, only one man decided to do something, one man still had humanity left within him.

Again it’s tough to blame the others. We are not trained from school what to do when an animal is injured or ill treated. Nobody bothers about them and for those who do, they are seen as soft or that they have no other better work to do. Maybe the rest were confused about what to do. But for those who wanted the media to come first before they did anything, it’s just disgusting to say the least. 

Picture courtesy- indiansforguns.com

I remember when a close family friend of ours got his air gun from Coorg to Mysore in 2001 and showed it to me. I was so thrilled then and immediately went about using the air gun. He taught me how it’s important to stop breathing or to hold my breath for that second before the trigger is pulled. Now one afternoon, I saw these monkeys moving near my neighbor’s compound. I rushed inside and got the air gun out. And taking aim, I fired one shot. The monkeys immediately went searching for cover. Till today, I can still see those monkeys peeping from behind the trees to watch me. They were scared and were waiting for me to go before they proceeded. Every now and then, they kept looking at me to see if I will shoot or not.

I stopped then and there when I saw this. I could not do anything to hurt them. Today, even if they come into our garden, we let them pass by and never stop them from plucking fruits or flowers. So much so, that some even come to our kitchen window where we feed them with slices of bread.

We have taken over their homes for crying out loud and complain when they come into our compounds or near our flats. The least we can do is grow fruit bearing trees so that when they pass by they will have something to eat and some place to rest. If all of us do that, not only will we be helping them but also the bird population that has dipped tremendously in Bangalore.

People For Animals (PFA), an NGO headed by Maneka Gandhi had sometime back filed a case arguing that air weapons were being used to kill animals and birds. The Delhi HC had passed an order making it mandatory for air weapons to have licenses. But a two-member bench of the apex court in early 2012 granted the National Rifles Association of India (NRAI) interim relief from the HC order dated May 7, 2011, which struck down the exemption given to air weapons from license under the Arms Act of 1959.  It was stated that the ruling was difficult to implement since thousands of air weapons are held without licenses and the HC order was seen as hampering development of the sport at the grassroots level.

I firmly believe that the time is right for another serious look into this considering what has happened in Bangalore. Why not make licenses compulsory along with the number of pellets sold? How will it hamper the sport? So what if they have to pay some fees to acquire an air weapon? At least the government will have an idea as to how many air weapons are out there. 

What do you think about this? I would like to know if something can be done. Do share your opinions with us.