Response of the Government of Nepal

on
the Questionnaire related to Human Rights Council resolution 29/10 on “Human Rights
and the regulation of civilian acquisition, possession and use of firearms”

1. The Government of Nepal (hereinafter referred as the GoN) has regulated the acquisition,
possession and use of firearms and ammunition since 1962 by enacting Fire Arms and
Ammunition Act, 1962 (hereinafter referred as the Act) and its Regulation, 1971
(hereinafter referred as the Regulation). These legislations have regulated but not totally
restricted the possession of firearms and ammunition by the civilians. The legislations
prohibit production of cannon, machine gun and arms and ammunition, keeping arms in
one's possession or putting or making arrangement to put such arms and ammunitions in
other places, converting from one shape to another and selling without license. Similarly,
the legislations prohibit carrying arms without license. The Act empowers the concerned
official to arrest any person who has arms and ammunition, with or without a license,
with the intention of committing any illegal act. Pursuant to the Act, any person who
intends to obtain license in order to possess arms must submit an application in the
prescribed format and pay the prescribed fee to the Chief District Officer. After the
submission of application, if the Chief District Officer finds justifiable reasons to issue
the license with the conditions as written in the application, may issue a license in the
prescribed format to the applicant with the prescribed terms and conditions. The Act
provides for the provision on the suspension or cancellation of the license for the sake of
public order, peace and security.

2. Private security companies do not possess legal authority to acquire, possess or use
firearms under the prevailing Act and Regulation. However, the Act and Regulation do
not restrict any person who has lawfully possessed the arms or ammunition for private
use from selling them to any other eligible person who is not prohibited by the existing
law to possess such arms or ammunition.

3. The Act restricts the import and export of the firearms intended for civilian use. Section 4
of the Act states that:
a. No one shall bring cannon or machine gun into Nepal from abroad or take out of
Nepal to abroad, or bring into or take out from one district to another inside Nepal.
b. No one shall bring the arms and ammunition into Nepal from abroad or take out of
Nepal to abroad, or bring into or take out from one district to another inside Nepal
without a license, or contrary to the terms and conditions as specified in the license.

4. The GoN has not made any sort of regional or international commitment related to the
regulation of civilian acquisition, possession or use of firearms.

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5. The Regulation allows following types and characteristics of firearms and ammunition,
with prescribed limitations, for civilian purpose:

Type of Arms Total quantity of Ammunition Permissible quantity for

legally allowed annual demand or import
from abroad
1 12, 16, 20, .410 gauge (bore) 200 100
Short Gun
2 Bullet of 22 bore Rifle 200 200
3 Muzzle loaded Gun (Bharuwa) 1. Cape – 200 1. Cape – 100
2. Gunpowder– 2 kg 2. Gunpowder – 1 kg
3. Small pieces of lead – 2 Kg 3. Small pieces of lead–1 Kg
4 Air Gun 2000 2000

5 Round filling machine for Short 1 1

Gun

1. Cape -100 1. Cape -100

2. Gunpowder– 1 kg 2. Gunpowder– 1 kg
3. Short – 1 Kg 3. Short – 1 Kg
6 Machine (To make Pellet of Air 1 1
Gun)

Pellet 1 Kg 1 Kg

6. Section 2(a), 2(b), and 2(c) of the Act categorize the firearms and ammunition into 4
types. They are:
a. "Cannon" includes all kinds of cannon, mortars and its parts, the vehicles to be
used for transporting and mounting such cannons and the machinery which
manufactures such cannon.
b. "Machine Gun" includes brengun, luis gun, station machine carbine, tomson
machine carbine and the automatic weapons of similar categories and the parts,
the vehicles to be used for transporting and mounting such guns and the
machinery which manufactures such machine guns.
c. "Arms" includes the rifle, gun, pistol, revolver, mining and grenade, their parts
and the machinery which manufactures such arms.
d. "Ammunition" includes fugsignal fuse (Dhumika Sanket), gun powder, cap, the
ball of a gun, shells, detonator, cartus, similar types of explosives and other
ammunitions.
7. Pursuant to the prevailing laws, including Police Act, 2012, Army Act, 2006, and Armed
Police Act, 2000, Army Personnel, Police Personnel and the Personnel of Armed Police
Force are allowed to lawfully possess and use firearms. Similarly, civilians holding
lawful license may also possess firearms subject to the terms and conditions specified in
the license.

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 a. Section10 of the Act mentions the provisions required for the issuance or renewal
of license or a certificate to acquire, own/possess or use firearms:
(1) Any person shall, for acquiring the license under this Act, submit an
application in the prescribed format with prescribed fee to the Chief
District Officer.
(2) After the receipt of application, if the Chief District Officer finds
justifiable reason, he/she may issue a license to the applicant with
prescribed terms and conditions.
b. Before issuing license, the Chief District Officer shall inquire into the following
matters:
i. Age and mental health of the applicant.
ii. Character of the person.
iii. Past case of conviction on the charge of grave criminal offence, if any.
iv. Involvement of the person in violent political activities.
v. Conduct of the person.
vi. Whether the person has any track record of violation of the terms and
conditions mentioned in the license provided to him/her.

8. Section 5 of the Arms and Ammunition Act, 1962 prohibits civilians carrying arms
without license. Sub-Section 1 of this section states that “No person shall carry arms
without a license or contrary to the terms and conditions as specified in the license.” So,
civilians having license may, subject to the terms and conditions specified in the license,
carry firearms in public places also.

9. Civilians may possess firearms only on condition that he/she acquires license for the said
purpose from the competent authority. The person holding license to possess firearms
must fulfill specific legal duties and responsibilities including to keep and carry the
firearms in a safe manner, and report to the concerned authority in case of loss or theft.

10. Section 15 of the Act has put provision to maintain the personal records of the civilian
having the license and the inventory of the arms which the person possesses. The Chief
District Officer is mandated to maintain such records.

11. The provision of Section 3, sub-section 2 of the Act allows a civilian who has license to
possess firearms to sell or transfer the firearms to another eligible person who is not
prohibited to possess such arms or ammunition.

12. Prevailing legislations do not permit any private entities to buy and sell firearms to
civilians in the domestic market.

13. The Police and the Chief District Officers are empowered to monitor the civilian access
to firearms and enforce the legislations concerning the arms and ammunitions. As per the
Act, the punishment for following activities are as follows:
a. Illegal possession – from three months to nine months of imprisonment or a fine
of twenty-five thousand to sixty thousand rupees.

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 b. Possession of prohibited firearms or of a number of firearms exceeding what the
law allows – from six months to one-year imprisonment or a fine of sixty
thousand to one hundred thousand rupees, or both.
c. Lack of permission or license required for possessing a firearm – from six months
to one-year imprisonment or a fine of sixty thousand to one hundred thousand
rupees, or both.

14. The data of misuse of firearms are recorded in every district police office and action is
taken against the license holder who misuses the firearms contrary to the provisions of
legislations and license granted.

15. Main impacts of misuse of firearms are threat to life of human beings as well as wildlife,
potential disruption of economic activities, and maintenance of law and order.

16. Legal actions, monitoring, public awareness programmes, security awareness at

checkpoints and patrolling of security personnel in the suspected areas are in place to
minimize risk of misuse of firearms.

17. The Act and Regulations are effective legislative and regulatory arrangements of the GoN
to protect the right to life and security of person in Nepal from the threat of misuse of
firearms and ammunitions. These legislations provide control mechanism over the illegal
possession and use of firearms by civilians. The legislative mechanism is effective to
regulate the use of firearms by civilians. The GoN is effortful to fully implement such
legislations for protection of the right to life and security of person.