India’s biggest gun store, which sells weapons and ammunition for sale online, has banned gun sales to anyone under 18.
The gun shop, known as Arms Market in India, has been the subject of a growing controversy in recent months as it sells a range of firearms, including guns that were manufactured in the UK, India and Germany.
The store, located in the southern city of Bengaluru, has become a hub for online sales of firearms to criminals, who often sell them on to people who are not legally permitted to possess them, according to local media reports.
Gun shops are not required to register with police or register customers to the government’s National Crime Records Bureau, but the Arms Market has been known to use false identities to evade the regulations.
It was not immediately clear how the store’s Facebook page was compromised.
However, the company has been accused of having a number of fake Facebook pages, including one that sells guns that it says are registered in the US.
A spokesperson for Arms Market, who asked not to be named, told the BBC that the ban was “to protect the safety of our customers and our employees” and that it is not able to disclose details of individual customers.
He said that he had been in discussions with police and other authorities in the state of Kerala, where the store is based, and that there were “no plans to enforce the ban.”
The store has been criticized for selling guns without a license, which is not allowed under Indian law, as well as for selling illegal items such as ammunition and accessories.
In October, a court in Kerala convicted a 20-year-old man of selling guns that he did not have a license to possess.
The court found that the sale of such weapons was “not lawful” under Indian laws.