Sale of toy guns banned in Peshawar

Administration says police will be given the authority to arrest anyone carrying toy guns in city

PESHAWAR: The district administration of Peshawar on Tuesday banned the sale of toy guns for a period of one month in an apparent attempt to curb sky rocketing sales of the toy during Eid.

The orders were given by Deputy Commissioner Riaz Khan Mehsud in keeping with Section 144.

“Police will be given the authority to arrest anyone violating the ban under Section 188 of Pakistan Penal Code,” public relations officer to Riaz Mehsud, Feroz Shah, added.

Read: Dangerous games: With Eid around the corner, sales of toy guns goes up

Every year sales of toy guns increase during the time of Eid. Police said children use rubber-ball ammunition in their guns and injure each other.

On June 10, a 12-year-old boy was accidentally shot dead by a teacher on the outskirts of Mingora. Majid Khan, a teacher at Sangota Public School Swat was cleaning his pistol in the staff room when he accidentally pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Maaz Khan, a student of class five who was passing through the corridor, killing him on the spot.

Read: Teenage boy shot by police over 'selfie with toy gun'

Earlier this year, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government had given firearms training to teachers and permitted them to take guns into classrooms after the barbaric attack on Army Public School in the provincial capital. However, the move attracted widespread criticism.

Civil society welcomes decision

Meanwhile, the civil society and organisations working for orphans have welcomed the decision.

Executive Director Association for Behavior and Knowledge Transformation (ABKT) Shad Begum while appreciating the decision called on toy makers to avoid manufacturing such toys.

“Huge amounts are spent on supply toys gun so it was not easy for the administration to take action against toy guns sellers,” she said.

Begum also appealed to the government to take action against such manufacturers.

Taimur Kamal, a representative of the POHA Foundation and Tahseenullah Khan, Administrator of Aghosh orphan homes also applauded the decision while talking to The Express Tribune.

Khan asked parents not to let their children buy toy guns.