Agra/Meerut: Despite a complete ban , celebratory firing in Uttar Pradesh claimed 31 lives in the past 35 months. The victims included 12 minors and four women. Another 32 were injured in 55 celebratory firing incidents in the same period.Three persons, a man in Shamli and two women in Moradabad, were killed in celebratory firing in the past week.Notably, 60% of celebratory firing which occurred in the past 35 months were executed with country-made weapons.According to National Database of Arms Licences report of July 2016, out of 26 lakh arms licence holders in the country, 10.76 lakh were in Uttar Pradesh. This means that more commoners in the state have guns as compared to just 2.3 lakh UP Police personnel who have a firearm.There is no data of unlicensed firearms in the state but their numbers are likely to be much higher.Speaking with TOI, additional director general of police (law and order) Anand Kumar said, “There is a complete ban on celebratory firing in UP. But then, the state has a gun culture. Ten years ago, the celebratory firing menace was huge, but it has gradually declined.”“We often issue advisories to avoid firing bullets in celebrations, as most of the victims are children and innocent bystanders. All district police forces have clear instructions to cancel arms licences of persons involved in celebratory firing. His or her weapon needs to be impounded and it’s mandatory to arrest them with FIR registered against accused,” the ADG added.A survey conducted by UP Police in 2016, just before 2017 state assembly polls, claimed that gun culture was very popular in the Yadav bastion of Etah and Mainpuri districts where the density of gun-toting people was the highest. For example, while in Kanpur, one out of 168 individuals possessed a gun, in Etah and Mainpuri, one in 58 and 77 persons, respectively, flaunts a gun. In Lucknow, one in 81 people has an arms licence.In 2013, the Allahabad high court had come down heavily on the state government over the increasing number of deaths caused due to celebratory firing incidents. With 5,730 people with licensed guns facing criminal charges, the court had directed the government to reduce the number of licensees.Professor S K Chaudhury of sociology department of Lucknow University said, “We are a conservative society which is in the transitional phase. Therefore, we feel proud when we break the law. We don’t fear police and gun is a symbol of power.”

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