Indian law allows firearm possession on a may-issue basis. With approximately five civilian firearms per 100 people, India is the 120th civilly most armed country in the world.

Prior to the Indian Rebellion of 1857, there were few gun control laws in South Asia.^[1] In 1878, the British Raj passed the Indian Arms Act, 1878, which regulated the manufacture, sale, possession and carry of firearms in British-ruled India. The act included the mandatory requirement of licenses to carry firearms, but contained exclusions for a number of ethnic groups, including Europeans, Anglo-Indian people and the Kodava people.^[2] In 1907, the British Raj banned in India the possession of rifles chambered in calibres which corresponded to British military centerfire cartridges (e. g., .303, .450, and .577) to prevent outbreaks of anti-colonial violence amidst the rising Indian independence movement.^[3]

That led to the replacement of the .303 with 8×50mmR Mannlicher, locally known as .315 Indian, demise of .375/303 hunting cartridge, which had to be replaced with .318, as well as to a rush by British rifle and ammunition makers to develop substitutes for now-banned popular big-game hunting rounds (Holland & Holland created the .465, Joseph Lang the .470, an unidentified firm the .475 Nitro Express, Eley Brothers the .475 No 2 Nitro Express and Westley Richards the .476,^[4] with the .470 NE becoming the most popular). .400 also gained some usage.

The right to bear arms was admitted as a fundamental right into 1931 Karachi Resolution that was drafted by Mahatma Gandhi, though this was ultimately rejected by the constituent assembly.^[5] There was also a level of debate of over admitting the right to bear arms into the constitution of India during its drafting.^[6] In a 1918 recruitment leaflet written by Gandhi during World War I, he voiced his disapproval of the Indian Arms Act, 1878:^[7]

“Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest. If we want the Arms Act to be repealed, if we want to learn the use of arms, here is a golden opportunity. If the middle classes render voluntary help to Government in the hour of its trial, distrust will disappear, and the ban on possessing arms will be withdrawn.”

In 1959, the Arms Act, 1959 was passed with new strict rules. It has been amended many times since, most recently in 2019.

Indian law divides firearm licenses into two types:

• Prohibited Bore (PB) includes fully automatic, semi-automatic firearms and some other specified types which can only be issued by the central government for certain groups of people;
• Non-Prohibited Bore (NPB) includes remaining types of firearms and may be issued by central and state governments for ordinary citizens.

In 2016, after the release of the Arms Rules, 2016, the Ministry of Home Affairs instructed all State Governments to further cast an overviewing role over all types of firearms. In addition to designating air guns as firearms, it directed the State Government to further direct all District Magistrates (DC/DM) of their States to enforce Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The SOPs required all air gun owners to test their firearms and furnish details of purchase. It also instructed all DCs to delegate each of their Sub-Divisional Commissioners (SDC/SDO/SDM) in charge of the Arms Branch to coordinate and conduct tests of air guns. It was stipulated that an Armorer be requisitioned by the District Magistrate from the Superintendent of Police (SP) to assist in the testing. It stipulated that tested and verified license-free air guns be given an Arms License Not Required (ALNR) certificate after testing using a chronometer, after which jurisdiction-specific identification marks be stamped on the firearms. As such, in May 2023, the Government of Mizoram released an Office Memorandum stating that ALNR certificates were under the direct purview of the DM without the need for further administrative approval while Arms License Required (ALR) applications be sent to the Home Department for further administrative approval. The memorandum also reiterated the 2016 Ministry of Home Affairs instructions.

Such SOPs were aimed at further ensuring a strict divide between 'license required' and 'license not required' firearms in the country.^[8]

The law states that a license can be issued to anyone who has a good reason without stipulating what constitutes a good reason. Typically, applicants wanting a license for self-defense purposes need to prove danger to their life. Article 14 states that authorities can deny a license for unspecified "public peace or for public safety" reasons. They are not obligated to give reason for refusal of an application if they deem it to be necessary. Firearm licenses must be renewed every five years. Approximately 50% of the applications for license are accepted. For example, of the 12.8 million inhabitants, between April 2015 and March 2016, authorities in Mumbai rejected 169 out of 342 firearm applications.^[9]

Some local jurisdictions may have additional requirements for granting licenses. For example, in 2019 the commissioner of Firozpur district in Punjab ordered that every license applicant must plant at least 10 trees and take photos with them.^[10]

Guns of caliber .177 are within the legal muzzle energy for air guns in India. Owning an air gun does not require a license. However air gun use causing serious physical harm or death is punished the same way as with higher caliber guns. As per the ISSF rules, sport shooters must hold a minimum permit by an authorized shooter training club or institute and the state rifle association and later by the NRAI. Sports shooters without permits from a club and the NRAI carrying air guns are subject to imprisonment.

Open carry of firearms is allowed in India, subject to various conditions. According to Arms Rules, 2016, no person shall carry a firearm in a public place unless the firearm is carried in a holder designed, manufactured or adapted for the carrying of a firearm. A firearm contemplated in this rule must be completely covered and the person carrying the firearm must be able to exercise effective control over such firearm. Brandishing, discharging and blank-firing of firearms in public places and firearm free zones is strictly prohibited.

Violation of this rule can lead to revocation of the license and seizure of the firearm in addition to the penalty specified under the Arms Act 1959.^[11]

As of 2016, there are 3,369,444 firearm licenses active in India with 9,700,000 firearms registered to them. According to Small Arms Survey, there are 61,401,000 illegal firearms in India.

The following is a breakdown of firearm licenses by state:^[13]

There are around 3.22^[14] gun homicides per 100,000 people in India every year. Around 90% of them are committed using illegal guns.^[15]

• Overview of gun laws by nation

• "Arms Act, 1959" (PDF). December 23, 1959. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 9, 2019.