9ThreeXFifty7,

Indian gun laws are among the most repressive in the world. You can own only three firearms and until recently they ahd to have calibers smaller than 8mm for rifles and less than 32 for handguns, but that ahs now been altered by a Supreme Court judgement. However, the import of guns was effectively banned in 1984 and the only guns that can be imported are by Indians who have worked outside the country for more than a year and who have bought a gun during this time. Target shooters who qualify with a minimum score in different competitions (mainly insipid ISSF trash) are allowed to import a target firearm every five years.

Technically there is no hunting but crop protection permits are issued by Divisional Forest Officers for shooting species like boar and nilgai in order to protect crops. However, one state, Chhatisgarh sold boar licenses to non Indian sportsmen three years ago for $ 50 each and there is a proposal to allow boar and nilgai hunting to foreigners in the near future. The government has finally realised the amount of money it could make from selling licenses to non Indians who go there to shoot game.

I wish there were a way of informing the chowderheads who run the country how ridiculously inept the Indian gun laws have been. The UN estimates that the world's largest stocks of illegal firearms are in India for one thing. For another, wealthy Indians own guns and leave them with dealers/hunting outfitters etc in countries like the UK and some African nations and they use them whenever they go there to hunt. If these guns could be brought in into India, they would attract a 300% customs duty and that would mean a huge amount of money going to the government in revenues. SOmehow, you just can;t knock sense into politicians and bureaucrats' heads no matter how hard you try.

Sorry for the rant but I do have strong feelings about the country of my birth and about how the socialist and communist scum there have made a mess of it.

Good hunting!