Is a weapon really required for self protection in India?

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aadhaulya
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Is a weapon really required for self protection in India?

Post by aadhaulya » Thu May 07, 2015 11:45 pm

Rather I would re-frame the question.
1. Is a gun, knife or any other weapon required for self protection in Urban India, Probably barring a few cities?
2. Are there large number of people who do carry weapons, among the people you know??
3. The people who carry weapons, do they carry concealed or open??

As about myself I never move out without a revolver hanging openly on my belt. My reason for open carry being that if a situation arises (only situation I expect is 'Road Rage' case, being the most prominent one in Delhi/ NCR). In this situation the scene doesn't go out of hand if the other person sees you carrying a gun and if you are carrying it concealed you will have to show the gun to keep the situation under control. But that would amount to a threat with a deadly weapon.

But I still feel that carrying a gun in Delhi/ NCR is not really required. Also for sure, none of the people I know carry any sort of weapon.

I would like to know the opinion of the members regarding this issue.

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Re: Is a weapon really required for self protection in India

Post by nagarifle » Fri May 08, 2015 5:38 am

ask the vips etc, since they go fully loaded
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Re: Is a weapon really required for self protection in India

Post by aadhaulya » Fri May 08, 2015 7:54 am

nagarifle wrote:ask the vips etc, since they go fully loaded
VIP security may or probably is over rated at our cost. However, they have a reason to be protected and I feel there is nothing wrong in being protected if a threat exists. Assassination of two Prime Ministers and some ministers and VIP's of India is an embarrassing situation for India.
Though, unlike the PM who does not seem to have any armed personnel around him, is the most heavily protected VIP in India. Whereas, in some stated the status of the VIP is judged (or perceived to be judged) by the number of automatic weapons carried by the PSO's of that VIP, this as per my thinking is that we are unnecessarily paying for the additional security that may not be required.

However, my question was aimed towards the lowly common man like me. Do I need protection living in Urban India??

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Re: Is a weapon really required for self protection in India

Post by timmy » Fri May 08, 2015 8:16 am

aadhaulya wrote:However, my question was aimed towards the lowly common man like me. Do I need protection living in Urban India
Is there any reason why you, yourself would not be the most qualified person to address your own need for personal protection? Who here could know more about you and your situation than yourself?

It seems to me that there is always a plethora of people who are only too willing and eager to tell each of us how to run our lives without inviting them to do so.

Who could possibly know an individual's need better than that individual, unless, of course, the person in question is a minor.
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Re: Is a weapon really required for self protection in India

Post by aadhaulya » Fri May 08, 2015 8:26 am

Tim,

By me I meant the normal common man. Off course each individual knows his own requirement. My idea was to get an idea of members and the people they know, if they have any reason to carry a weapon.
Also, if they carry a weapon for an off chance that something may happen some day. Like I mentioned that none of the people I know carries any sort of weapon.

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Re: Is a weapon really required for self protection in India

Post by xl_target » Fri May 08, 2015 9:11 am

You have a fire extinguisher at home?
Are you expecting a fire?

It is up to every individual to decide if he or she needs to carry a weapon.
In my case, I'd rather have it than not. No one knows that I have one on me anyway.
“Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense” — Winston Churchill, Oct 29, 1941

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Re: Is a weapon really required for self protection in India

Post by aadhaulya » Fri May 08, 2015 9:45 am

Xl_target,

It is a good option in the USA, as the gun is as easily available as the fire extinguisher. But my idea is not to decide what is right or wrong.
I have a gun and carry it but all the people I know weather they have a License or not, do not carry a gun or knife at all. The was to find out what the people living in India generally do/ think about this issue.

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Re: Is a weapon really required for self protection in India

Post by aadhaulya » Fri May 08, 2015 9:59 am

About the USA also I would like to add that I have a few friends from college who have settled down there. And non of them have any interest in guns.r
In fact about a year ago, one friend's Husband was shot in the leg just outside his house, even after handing over his wallet he tried to prevent these fellows from entering the house. He broke a bone and had to be air lifted to the Hospital (so I have been told). He still doesn't carry a gun as he feels he wont be able to shoot at anyone. What happened with him was a unique one off case and doesn't expect it to happen ever again.
I think he is stupid. But that is my personal thinking.
Therefore, my question was aimed at getting an idea of the general thinking in India.

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Re: Is a weapon really required for self protection in India

Post by nagarifle » Fri May 08, 2015 10:24 am

i do not have any interest in atomic bomb, damm right i got a bomb shelter built. its not me that i am afraid off. its the guy with the bomb.

if one feels so safe, i would suggest that one leaves ones doors and windows of one house open .

why do people have compound walls? to keep unwanted people out, why do people have locks on their doors, to keep threat out. what are you going to do when threat walks past all those and invades you home, rapes your mommy, you wife ,sisters an buggers your children? and you had a gun in hand , and the cell phone is on the dressing table. which one will you use first?

i believe that everyone has the right to defend themselves at all times,by what ever means available.
i also believe that if one does not want to defend them selves they must not enforce their view on others.
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Re: Is a weapon really required for self protection in India

Post by kalashnikovcult » Fri May 08, 2015 10:50 am

This all depends area to area ..in M.P. where i am there is rising crime . In eastern M.P. the Gun Rules ! You might not have a proper house but a gun is must.

There are house break in incidents everyday and last year the house behind ours was almost burgled, the neighbors who started shouting were threatened with knives if they opened their mouth . It was broad daylight robbery as if it was their right.
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When all other means have failed,it is righteous to draw the sword

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Re: Is a weapon really required for self protection in India

Post by aadhaulya » Fri May 08, 2015 10:55 am

Thanks kalashnikovcult,

This is what I want to know. I am sure that people living in these areas carry some sort of weapon..

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Re: Is a weapon really required for self protection in India

Post by Chandan22 » Fri May 08, 2015 11:23 am

Hello,

My two cents..

Till a while back I always had some weapon or the other with me. Whether it was a knife or a knucleduster or iron rod or something. I didn't have a gun then. Now I am getting my gun, and I WILL carry it with me.

Its simply because of the fact that I don't know when I might need to protect myself and my family. There are enough lunatics out there and while I may be paranoid, should I take a chance on my life?

Road Rage.. thats another issue in Delhi. But there I'm not too keen on showing my weapon, as you said there is the whole interpretation of the law. Even self defence becomes tenous in Indian courts.

But to answer your question, I carry a weapon and I will carry my gun.
Whether I'll use it, which scenario will I use it in, what will be the ramifications, I don't know. But then I buy life insurance too..

Regards,
~C

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Re: Is a weapon really required for self protection in India

Post by kalashnikovcult » Fri May 08, 2015 11:40 am

Not all of them in the city where i am , but in the interiors they do ..most urban people treat weapons as untouchables , my victorinox which i flaunt people in my office are afraid of that. :)

The other day i was sitting with my pockets empty with all the items i carry on my table , my M.D. happened to come in the bay , his chamcha did some sign language at me . I didnt understand , he comes closer and tells chaku andar rakh lo saab aaye hai :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
aadhaulya wrote:Thanks kalashnikovcult,

This is what I want to know. I am sure that people living in these areas carry some sort of weapon..

Regards
cu kar az hama hilate dar guzasht
halal ast burdan ba shamshir dast.


When all other means have failed,it is righteous to draw the sword

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Re: Is a weapon really required for self protection in India

Post by essdee1972 » Fri May 08, 2015 11:52 am

Aadhaulya, you asked two questions. One, whether a common man needs a weapon in daily life in India. And two, what do most Indians think of carrying weapons.

I will attempt the second query first, just because I have more to say, and more frustration on this point.

1. India is a country of fatalists. If I have to die, I will die and no gun or whatever is going to prevent me from dying. Sab kismat hai sa'ab! Goli-goli pe likha hai marne wale ka naam!!

2. India is a feudal country (OK, the Constitution has abolished feudalism officially, but you can't abolish mindsets through official diktat). So, apart from the caste of Kshatriyas, none of the others were supposed to fight! So, the non-Kshatriyas just depended on the Kshatriyas to do their fighting. (I know I am over-simplifying history, but this is more of an observation than a serious study of history.)
Today, we leave our fighting to the Armed Forces, paramilitaries, and the police. They have become the modern Kshatriyas.
After the notorious Delhi Rape Case, the Thane Police Commissioner suggested that women carry chilli powder. He was castigated to such an extent in the media and by women's organisations and civilians, you would have thought the poor guy was caught in a rape case himself!! The brunt of all the wild screaming was "it is his departments' job to protect us! why should we be responsible for our own protection"!!
Silly, yes. But not much more than expecting a person from a certain caste (only) to clean your loo.

3. 90 years of Colonial anti-arms legislation (post-1857 Mutiny), and subsequently 58 years of the same by the neo-Colonial brown sahibs, have taken away whatever will to be armed there was in the general public. Apart from the pre-designated "warrior castes", arms ownership was severely restricted by the British (funnily enough, the preferred "warrior castes" pre-Mutiny suddenly became a strict no-no!!). Please refer to the thread on the new changes in the Arms Rules to see how "colonial" our government is, even in 2015.

We Indians "know" that it is "wrong" to be armed. That the only people who carry guns (outside the uniformed guys) are the bad guys. People who are inherently violent (psychos) or hired killers. I don't have a firearms license. What I carry every day, everywhere (except in airports) is a small folding pocket knife. And everywhere, everyone who sees it asks me who is it that I want to kill? I honestly don't know what they will say if they see the larger folder in my laptop bag and the machete in my car boot!!

I am off FaceBook for about a year now, otherwise I could have sent you the messages I received after posting anything pro-gun or even a pic of an addition to my knife collection.

In a country of such strong weapon-o-phobia, probably most of the guys who you might find carrying weapons for self-defense are on this site.

And as for the first question, the only reason I am not applying for a license is very personal. If that particular circumstance hadn't existed, I would have applied long ago. Just to analogise, my five-year-old car has over 60 K kilometres on the clock. I have had only 2 flats. But I still carry a jack (bought a hydraulic one after the first flat happened in the heat of summer), a spare, and even a couple of cans of Fix-O-Flat.
Cheers!

EssDee
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Re: Is a weapon really required for self protection in India

Post by harshit89 » Fri May 08, 2015 3:34 pm

Really agree with you on this aadhaulya. Actually the guns are never considered as a common tool for everyday carry to outdoors because you can easily get behind the bars even if you are carrying the gun for self defence and in case you have pointed it to somebody. Some people take licenses and carry these guns for their protection.
Keep knives in your pocket and pray that you will never need it

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