The Indian traveller's arms licence

Under the Indian Arms Act, 1878, no one could possess or go armed with arms in British India without a licence. The Indian Arms Rules, 1924 gave the bona fide traveller one of his own (rule 34, Form XVII): a licence to possess arms and ammunition in reasonable quantities, and to go armed, during the journey from the port of arrival to his place of destination, at one rupee a weapon. At Bombay, Calcutta, Madras or Rangoon it was granted by the Commissioner of Police, elsewhere by the District Magistrate, and a copy went to the magistrate of the district of destination, or to the Political Officer of the Indian State. A passenger with no permanent licence produced it on board, and was then allowed to land with his arms.

Bearer prints the form's columns and conditions as the Manual of 1928 gives them; the layout is ours. For the investigators who land at Bombay with a revolver in the trunk.

Bearer makes an investigator's papers for Call of Cthulhu and any 1920s or 1930s tabletop campaign: the passport a consul would have filled in, with the visas and frontier stamps a campaign leaves in it, and the permits, certificates and tickets of the period, to print or to share.

An example

Open this example in the office

The paper

The same paper elsewhere

• Firearm licences by country

Still to be confirmed

• the form is read in the Manual of 1928, its columns and conditions 1 to 4; the explanation under condition 4 is cut off in the copy read, and the layout is ours. What would settle it: a licence in Form XVII actually granted.
• offered from 1924, the year of the Rules; the licence a traveller carried under the Rules of 1920 and 1909 is not found. What would settle it: the Indian Arms Rules, 1920.

Sources

• Government of India, The Indian Arms Act Manual, seventh edition, September 1928: the Indian Arms Act, 1878, and the Indian Arms Rules, 1924, rule 34 and Schedule VIII, Form XVII, Form XVII (See Rule 34.) Fee for each weapon, ONE RUPEE. Licence for the possession of arms and going armed during the period occupied in journeying from the port or other place of arrival in British India to place of destination; columns: name and description of licensee, brief description of each weapon, quantity and description of each kind of ammunition, place of destination, period for which the licence is valid; date on which copy is sent to the District Magistrate or the Political Officer; signed by the Commissioner of Police or the District Magistrate, with the seal; conditions 1 to 4. Rule 34: granted to a bona fide traveller by the Commissioner of Police where the port of arrival is a Presidency-town or Rangoon, elsewhere by the District Magistrate; passengers without a permanent licence produce it on board to land with their arms (read directly)

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