Air gun ban on cards

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has decided to ban air guns to protect wildlife, especially migratory birds, responding to a recent proposal of the Forest Department.

It is now awaiting approval that will come from an upcoming inter-ministerial meeting on law and order.

Forest Department officials said some people indiscriminately hunt migratory birds in winter using air rifles and air pistols, which is gradually destroying the biodiversity.

The Forest Department also proposed appropriate punishment against those who breach the law by amending the Wildlife (Conservation and Protection) Law 2012.

The ministry on November 9 held a meeting headed by its Additional Secretary Iqbal Abdullah Harun to discuss the proposal.

ASM Ferdous, deputy secretary of the ministry (Forest-1), told The Business Post air gun users do not need to obtain a licence from the government.

He said district administrations and law enforcement agencies have no data on the number of air guns in the country.

Air gun owners hunt birds violating the wildlife act, he also said.

“Air gun owners have to surrender their weapons to the authorities concerned if the inter-ministerial meeting approves the ban. Legal action will be taken if anyone hunts wildlife with such weapons once the ban takes effect,” he explained.

He added that additional punishment for hunting wildlife would be included in the current law.

An air gun is a gun that fires projectiles pneumatically with compressed air or other gases that are mechanically pressurised without involving any chemical reactions, in contrast to a firearm which pressurises gases chemically via oxidation of combustible propellants that generates propulsive energy by breaking molecular bonds.

Such weapons are mostly used in greater Sylhet, hill tracts, and coastal areas.

The 2012 act banned wildlife hunting, but people continue to take advantage of the absence of barriers to carrying or buying air guns while there is no monitoring of the trade of these weapons, the Forest Department said.

Molla Rezaul Karim, conservator (wildlife and nature conservation) at the department, told The Business Post many wildlife species are on the verge of extinction due to indiscriminate hunting.

He said the department had taken legal action against those violating the wildlife act. But air guns have not been banned yet, and people take advantage of this,” he added.