For the purposes of the Arms Act, 1959, the term "magistrate" means:

Section 2(1)(ff) of the Arms Act, 1959 defines "magistrate" as an Executive Magistrate under the criminal procedure code, which is now the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (formerly the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, which the clause names). Executive Magistrates are appointed by the State Government under s.14 BNSS. Judicial Magistrates of the first or second class and the Chief Judicial Magistrate belong to the judicial magistracy and are not the class the definition refers to. Hence "An Executive Magistrate under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023".