Deaths caused by small firearms between 1999-2008 fall: study

New Delhi, Sept 20 (PTI) There has been a sharp decrease
in the number of deaths in India caused by small firearms
between 1999 and 2008, a leading research organisation has
claimed.
The number of deaths caused by small firearms which
comprise revolvers, self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines,
sub-machine guns, assault rifles, and light machine guns came
down from 12,147 in 1999 to 6,219 in 2008, according to 'Small
Arms Survey' project at the Graduate Institute of
International and Development Studies in Geneva.
The Small Arms Survey project had in 2010 launched the
India Violence Assessment (IAVA) to develop a comprehensive
evidence based on the contours of violence and fatalities in
the country.
Murders by gunfire in India totalled 4,101 in 2008, or
12.2 per cent of all 33,727 murders that year, the report
said.
Just three states -- Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh
-- accounted for almost two-thirds (62.4 per cent) of all
victims reportedly murdered by firearms in 2008, it said
citing National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB) data.
While Uttar Pradesh reported 2,829 deaths per 100,000
population caused due to fire-arms in 2008, 664 and 521 people
were killed in Bihar and Jharkhand respectively in the same
year.
Easy availability of illegal firearms in these states
could be the reason behind this high rate of killings, the
report said.
In contrast to this, Kerala reported only 1 death
while north-eastern states like Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh
reported zero and five deaths committed with fire-arms per
100,000 people in 2008.
While some cities witnessed sharp declines in total
number of deaths caused by small arms, others were stable or
deteriorated, it said.
Meerut, for example, reported 23 fire-arms deaths per
100,000 population in 2008, Allahabad 6 deaths while cities
like Kochi, Coimbatore, and Dhanbad witnessed zero deaths in
the same year.
Pointing towards increasing number of murders committed
with firearms in the national capital, the report said that
Delhi had witnessed more murders from firearms in 2008 than
accidental firearms deaths.
58 people were murdered in Delhi in 2008 with firearms
while 31 accidental firearms deaths were reported in the same
year.
While 243 accidental firearms deaths were reported
from Meerut in 2008, only 3 people were murdered with firearms
in the city in the same year.
The report said Meerut has a large number of illegal
firearms factories, some of which may be causing accidental
firearms deaths.
Rigorous examination of gun deaths in Meerut and other
mega cities of Uttar Pradesh is urgently needed, it said.
The report also pointed out that criminal violence
caused more than 14 times as many violent deaths as terrorist
activity in 2009, when there were 32,369 homicide victims and
2,231 deaths linked to terrorism.
Despite knowing this, the Indian government gives
priority to international threats over domestic threats. For
example, the 2008-09 budget allocated five times more funds to
national defence -- Rs 1,056 billion -- than to policing and
paramilitaries which was Rs 206 billion, the report said.
The Small Arms Survey project aims at serving as the
principal international source of impartial and public
information on all aspects of small arms and armed violence,
is working on around 70 countries across the globe and is
being funded by the governments counties like the US, Canada,
Switzerland and Canada.