Hi,

I am into shooting , and I want to buy my own shooting equipment but I need to know what kind of license is required to buy such weapons. I purely need it for recreational and sports purpose. So guide me how to acquire firearm license for Target Sport purpose?

You have not mentioned what kind of Shooting sport you are involved, does it involve Air Gun or Air pistol or any other. Since you have mentioned firearm, I suppose you are not talking about Air gun shooting at all.

You need to know few details , hopefully that can get your things easier. A regular firearm License can be obtained by applying at your regional D.C.P (Licensing office). They have procedure where they need to know reason etc. for need of firearm. Generally you need to have valid reason, generic reason like "Self protection or protection of property" won't work easily.

Since you have asked for sports , that is called "Target Shooting" then to be eligible to get an arms licence under the sports quota, you need to be a registered target shooter, which can be done by signing up with a local shooting club. So, if you’re in Delhi for example, you can sign up with the Delhi State Rifle Association. The success rate of members applying for a .22 rifle license for target practice is very good due to liberal government policies for sports shooters. Issuing a licence is the prerogative of the state police or the district magistrate.

Interestingly no license was earlier required to own air guns and air rifles and even toy shops could sell these. However, after amendment of arm act on 15 July 2016, the new rules say manufacturing and selling air rifles will require specific license under the Arms Act. Also, license will be required for any air rifle generating more than 20 joules of energy. Though air rifles of .177 caliber — this is standard caliber or bore for all national and international competitions — will not require license, the restriction on energy (20 joules) will apply to these as well. Air rifles of bigger caliber such as .22 (5.5 mm) will be brought under license regime and restriction on energy will apply.

So, you now know how to get things done. My advice is that registering with your local shooting club will help you a lot. They will give you insight about obtaining firearm license for your mentioned purpose.