No brakes on illegal weapons

Express Tribune

04-05-2025

A young boy's extreme fascination with shooting games might appear harmless to society. After all, he is only killing animated figures with endless lives. Yet when guns become as conveniently accessible as a gaming console, the curious adolescent will seek his next dopamine hit by pointing a gun at an actual human being.
Over the past few years, the negligence of the K-P Home Department has given birth to a host of vices associated with the gun culture.
While the easy accessibility of weapons has allowed murder cases to surge, it has also facilitated deviant behaviours among male youth, who display weapons on social media, using them as a tool to intimidate weaker groups. Even when the law breakers are caught, guns worth Rs400,000 to Rs500,000 are easily returned in exchange for a measly fine of Rs500. Such legal loopholes in gun control laws often cost the lives of innocent people.
One such harrowing incident involved the brutal murder of seven people from a single house in the Budh Bair area of Peshawar. Khalid Khan, a close relative of the victims, blamed the unregulated possession of weapons for the tragic deaths of his family members. "Had there been a check and balance on weapons circulating in the area, and punishments given earlier, seven lives would not have been lost today over a trivial matter," regretted Khan.
According to data obtained by The Express Tribune from the police, 658 people were killed in Peshawar in 2024 alone.
Most of these incidents involved the usage of licensed weapons. Similarly, till April this year, 140 people have been killed in Peshawar over petty issues, enmities, and business disputes. The main reason is the presence of weapons in every other house.
The wide availability of weapons is closely associated with the ease with which people of any age can purchase them in K-P, where gun control laws are much weaker than in Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan.
From March 2024 to April 2025 alone, 45,000 people in Peshawar sought security clearance for gun licenses, of which 41,000 were granted permission to become a licensee.
Although a clear criminal record is a condition for purchasing weapons, licensees violating the terms and conditions after getting the license rarely have their licenses suspended even after the registration of several cases.
K-P Law Minister Aftab Alam Advocate opined that there was an urgent need to amend the law in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa concerning the manufacture, registration and use of weapons. "A meeting will be held with the Chief Minister soon in this regard and efforts will be made to bring a law with stricter punishment for those caught with weapons. In the name of terrorism, the ANP and PPP had thousands of arms licenses made by the federal government. This acted as an impetus to the culture of violence," said Alam.
According to a survey of social media accounts, gangsters posting videos with a display of weapons often receive millions of views on their reels and videos.
Ironically, police surveillance often adds to their alarming popularity. Whenever the police arrest an influencer, they repost the original videos of the accused on their official page hence unwittingly promoting their profiles and increasing their viewership.
Recently, Peshawar Police posted a video of minor boys firing guns in the air. The boys who barely had 20 followers ended up with 150,000 views within a few hours. Another such video reached half a million views in just four hours.
In this regard, the Peshawar Police Chief affirmed that monitoring teams have been stopped from posting such content while regular SOPs are being devised to stop this practice completely. "In order to eliminate the gun culture, the police have sent lists to the Interior Department, in which it has been recommended to cancel the licensed weapons used in crimes," said the CCPO.