Barring civilian ownership of arms

It is disappointing that civilian ownership of weaponry in Pakistan is being considered a point of contention in the federal cabinet. In the face of opposition from some of his colleagues in the federal cabinet to his proposal of imposing a ban on automatic weapons in the country, this week Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi constituted a committee to further deliberate the matter in order to arrive at a consensus. It is perhaps unfortunate that an open and shut case such as this one will be discussed and debated at length.

Taking part in the discussion on the first agenda item, ‘arms licensing regime and ban on automatic weapons’, the ministers and advisers belonging to Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa claimed people had been forced to keep automatic weapons with them due to the volatile security situation in the wake of terrorism. This counters the truth that when citizens are armed as they are today, crime never ceases. Domestic defence becomes a matter of private self-help and vigilantism and less a matter of democratically-controlled public law enforcement. Domestic security becomes increasingly privatised. The logic is inexorable: as more private individuals acquire guns, the power of the police diminishes and the unarmed have an increasing incentive to obtain guns, until everyone is armed. Subsequently, everyone is less secure than they would be if no one had guns other than the members of a democratically accountable police force.

The ambivalence expressed by members of the federal cabinet on gun control must be condemned. The fact that the decision has been postponed speaks volumes for the extent to which it has become so ingrained that banning guns is impossible, legislatively and pragmatically. Realistically, Pakistan does not need reasonable regulation or the outlawing of certain kinds of weapons (ie automatic), but rather a blanket ban without disclaimers. Banning guns urgently must become a rhetorical and conceptual possibility, especially at a time when the country is already inundated with all sorts of weapons and does not need to arm its citizens any more.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2017.

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