As per the annual Crime in India report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), more than 50000 fire-arms each were seized in the country in 2014 and 2015 under the Arms act. Uttar Pradesh alone accounted for 45% of the seized fire-arms in the country.

Possession of a fire-arm or ammunition without a valid license is an offence under the Arms Act. The police can seize any such illegal fire-arm or ammunition and book a case against the possessor as per the laid down procedure. They can also seize licensed fire-arms under other provisions of the act. The details of all such seizure cases and the amount of arms seized under the Arms Act is compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in their annual ‘Crime in India’ report. The NCRB started collecting this data only in 2014 and hence data before 2014 is not available at a central place.

More than 50000 fire-arms seized in the country in 2014 & 2015

As per the NCRB report, more than 53000 fire-arms were seized under the arms act in 2015 while more than 51000 cases of seizure were reported. In 2014, more than 55000 cases under this act were registered and a similar number of fire-arms were also seized. Both in 2014 & 2015, crude & country made arms accounted for the bulk of the seizures. Licenced or factory made fire-arms were the lowest in terms of the seizures. Seized arms include AK47/56, Pistols, Carbine, Revolvers, Guns, Rifles and country made weapons etc. More than one lakh number of ammunition was seized in 2014 while this number went up to more than three lakh in 2015.

The Police also makes seizures under the Explosives Act. In 2014, 3843 cases of seizure of explosives were reported. This number increased marginally to 3571 in 2015. The seized explosives include Detonators, RDX, TNT, Gelatin Sticks, Grenades, Landmines, IEDs etc.

Uttar Pradesh & Madhya Pradesh account for 60% of the seizures

It is not the left wing extremism (LWE) or maoist affected states that top the list of seizures. Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh together account for more than 60% of all the seizures in the country both in 2014 and 2015. Add Rajasthan to this list, the percentage goes over 70%. More than 24000 fire-arms were seized in Uttar Pradesh in both 2014 and 2015. Compared to this, the number of fire-arms seized in all the South Indian states put together was less than 1000 in both 2014 and 2015. More than 1000 fire-arms were seized in eight (8) different states in 2014 and seven (7) different states in 2015.