Others will protect them, Rajya Sabha Chairman tells MPs

With two women MPs asking to speak as the discussion on the Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was wrapping up on Tuesday evening, Rajya Sabha chairperson M. Venkaiah Naidu remarked that he thought women did not need firearms and that others would protect them.

“In my opinion, women don’t need firearms, others will protect you,” he said.

Though he said the time allotted to the discussion had finished, he said, “One of the two women” could speak.

He then allowed BJP MP Roopa Ganguly to speak. She said that she had been shooting since childhood and that she enjoyed it.

Arms Act Bill passed

A Bill amending the Arms Act, 1959 to bring in stricter punishments for those involved in the trade and use of illegal firearms and to reduce the number of licensed firearms a person could keep from three to two was passed by Parliament on Tuesday.

After being passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday, the Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was introduced by Minister of State for Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday afternoon. He said the Bill was a “small” but an important one, adding that the effective control of arms and ammunition was vital for national security.

Apart from increasing the punishments for dealing in illegal arms, the Bill makes snatching of a firearm from security personnel an offence carrying a 10-year to life imprisonment term and using firearms in celebratory firing punishable with up to two years in jail and/or a ₹1 lakh fine.

Responding to demands from MPs for allowing people to retain the firearms passed down from generations, Mr. Reddy said these firearms could be retained, apart from two legal ones, if they were deactivated — that is, they were no longer be used to fire.