India's Switzerland, where Everyone has a Right to Arms

 Kodava flag Link to wikimedia.org by Prathikponnanna 

 In a district of about a half million people in southwest India, not far from the West coast, the residents have the right to keep and bear arms.  Kodagu (earlier Coorg) is about 20% larger than the smallest American state, Rhode Island, with about half as many residents.

The Kodavas have a longstanding martial tradition similar to Switzerland. From the quint.com:

“When it comes to the issue of kovi (gun), in Kodagu, it is an integral part of the identity of a Coorg. It has become
a part of our culture. The right to own guns came in the 1800s from the British Raj, when they gave this right not just to the Kodavas, but also those with ancestral land living in Kodagu.” Harry Thammaiah, Resident, Kodagu

According to Colonel (Retd) CP Muthanna, the Kodavas have been keeping weapons from the time of the Lingayat Rajas, who ruled the lands way before the British or the Muslim rulers.

“The Kodavas and certain other communities were keeping weapons and ammunition in their house. And as and when the king called them to battle, they would take their weapons and go to battle at the behest fo the king. It is similar to what is being practiced in Israel by the reserves. Then came British rule. When the Disarming Act came, they exempted the Kodavas by race and Jumma holders from this regulation under the Disarming act,” he said.

The disarming act is what the British rulers used to impose gun control on the peoples of India after the Mutiny/uprising which occurred in 1857. Much the same philosophy was extended to England and Wales in the 1920's after World War I. The Kodavas were loyal to the British regime. The British rewarded them by allowing them to keep their weapons.

In current India, the federal government has caused much hardship in Kodago by indiscriminately outlawing all  hunting in India in 1972.

Kodava youth are taught, at a young age, to handle firearms. Marksmanship contests are common. Most Kodava households send at least one member to join the military, continuing their martial tradition.

In 2015, a petition was filed in the Karnataka Supreme Court. The petition challenged the exemption of the residents of Kodagu from the 1959 Arms Act, which codified the British imposed gun control after independence. Karnataka is the larger India state of which Kodagu is a part. 

In September of 2021, the Karataka High Court upheld the exemption for Kodagu.  From indiaexpress.com: 

The Centre had decided to continue the British-era rule of exempting Kodavas and Jamma land holders in the hill district of Kodagu from obtaining licence for firearms such as pistols, revolvers and double-barrelled shotguns.

LiveLaw.in confirms the residents in Kodagu have the right to keep and bear arms without obtaining a license from the government.

From  livelaw.in:

 The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday upheld the constitutional validity of the notification issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs granting exemption to every person of Coorg by race, and Jumma tenure landholders in Coorg (Kodagu district), from the requirement to obtain a license to carry and possess firearms.

As might be expected, the crime rate in Kodagu is about half of what it is in India as a whole. While the India statistics only give the overall crime rate, in Kogadu it is 233.18 per 100 thousand. In India, as a whole, it is 445.9 per 100 thousand.

In a small part of India, the Kogadu and Jamma land owners have a right to keep and bear arms similar to the the American right to keep and bear arms. It comes from the same place, the right and duty of residents to defend their lives and their state. The Kogadu have managed to keep this right from before the Muslim invasion, through Muslim rulers, through the rule of the British Raj, and through the independent India rule to this day, a history which exceeds the history of personal firearms.

It remains to be seen if the Kodavas will retain their rights. The Supreme Court of India has agreed to hear an appeal to the Karnataka High Court decision, on March 29, 2022.

 

 

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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