Gun licence can be given to legal heir without threat to life: Karnataka High Court

A Mangaluru resident wanted to give his .32 calibre revolver to his son.

The court ruled heirs can receive a license without a threat-to-life proof if the holder is over 70 or held the license for 25 years. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

The Karnataka High Court has stated that even in the absence of a threat to life, a gun licence can be passed down to a legal heir, provided that the licence holder has had the licence for at least 25 years or has crossed the age of 70. The order was passed on November 10 by a bench consisting of Justice Suraj Govindaraj.

In this case, one Placid Saldanha, a Mangaluru resident, wanted to give his .32 calibre revolver to his son Michael Saldanha, who is the petitioner and a pilot by profession. However, the arms licence was denied on July 24 because he was not facing any threats to his life.

Michael Saldanha’s counsel had argued before the high court that the application itself was not made under any threat to his life, but under Rule 25 of the Arms Rules, which deals with the conditions under which a person can transfer a firearms licence to his legal heir.

The bench agreed with the ruling, pointing out that, “Terms of Clause (b) of Rule 25(1) of the Arms Rule being satisfied, the respondents could not have rejected the application on the ground that there is no threat to life established by the petitioner… so long as the licensee is aged more than 70 years or has been holding the firearm licence for more than 25 years, he can nominate any of his legal heirs for transfer of licence and transfer of arm and there will be no requirement for the transferee to establish that there is any threat to life.”

The court explained, “The petitioner’s father is 75 years old and he has been holding a licence from 1971… for a period of almost 54 years. Thus, the dual conditions under Clause (b) of Rule 25 (1) of the Arms Rule being satisfied, what is only required under the proviso is that the other conditions are satisfied and there are no adverse remarks.”