The pointless toy-gun notifications

The pointless toy-gun notifications

On June 10, 2017, the Sindh Government issued a notification to ban the sale of toy guns for a period of two months. The notification quoted two absolutely rational arguments i.e, “that the toy guns were being used by robbers in street crime and that they were a bad influence on children.”

The fact that toy guns have been used by robbers in street crime has been known to humankind for past several decades.    The fact that they are a bad influence on children has been known for even longer. Thus, for the Sindh Government to suddenly rediscover the two well known truths on the morning of 10^th June 2017 came as a bit of surprise.  Clearly this was a cosmetic exercise intended for public consumption only.

Fast Forward 2019.    On 1^st June 2019, the Sindh Police issued an identical toy-gun notification, giving identical reasons of why they were bad and asking SHOs to take “necessary action” in  “accordance with the  law”.   Even a layperson, at a glance can see-through the vagueness and non-seriousness of this notification – a menace repeatedly rediscovered (but never tackled) in Sindh.   Thus, this too will meet the same fate as the earlier notifications on toy guns.  A recent equally cosmetic notification regarding anti-beggary drive is another case on point.

“One time drives” are destructive for systems.  The Sindh Government and the Police should by now have known the method of how to put an end to the toy guns. If not, the group “Citizens Against Weapons” shall be happy to volunteer help on how to go about accomplishing this task.

3rd June 2019