Guns trickle in to FLA in amnesty’s early days
Published:Wednesday | November 9, 2022 | 12:10 AMLivern Barrett/Senior Staff Reporter
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A gun for which the licence expired 17 years ago is among five pistols that were handed over to the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) on Monday, the first working day of a gun amnesty imposed by the Government. The guns contained a total of 10...
A gun for which the licence expired 17 years ago is among five pistols that were handed over to the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) on Monday, the first working day of a gun amnesty imposed by the Government.
The guns contained a total of 10 bullets.
Four were from St Andrew and one from St Catherine.
A sixth pistol containing 11 rounds of ammunition was turned over to the FLA by a St Catherine resident last Friday, a day before the start of the two-week amnesty, FLA Director of Client Services Beverly Robinson confirmed Tuesday.
All six firearms were previously licensed, the FLA said.
Archbishop Kenneth Richards, chairman of the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches (JUGC), said Tuesday that he was not aware if any of his members have provided assistance with the handing over of guns.
And there was no indication up to late Tuesday whether any guns were turned over to the police, as questions posed by The Gleaner were directed to the Ministry of National Security.
The amnesty, which was enacted through the Firearms (Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation) (Firearms Amnesty) Order 2022 and Resolution passed by Parliament, began last Saturday and ends on November 20.
It gives holders of illegal guns one last chance to turn them in and avoid tough sanctions, including a mandatory 15-year prison sentence, that are included in Jamaica’s revised firearm law.
According to Robinson, the St Catherine resident contacted the FLA to report that they have a gun for a licence holder who passed away “and they don’t want to be found in possession of it and get 15 years in prison”.
“So, we went out and retrieved that weapon,” she said.
The five weapons turned over on Monday came amid an uptick in telephone calls to the FLA, the agency disclosed.
“One of them, the licence holder has not renewed it for 17 years. I believe that is longer than the existence of the FLA,” said the officials, making reference to the 2006 start-up date for the regulatory body.
“So, from the FLA side, the amnesty is working.”
The Reverend Dr Peter Garth, a past chairman of the JUGC, believes the amnesty period may be too short and “may not yield much”.
“Sometimes it takes a while to convince people to turn over guns. Sometimes you talk to someone and they will say, ‘Bwoy, make me think ‘bout it,’” said Garth, who has in the past assisted with the handing over of illegal guns and the surrender of wanted persons.
But the FLA said interest in the amnesty is “very high”, noting that its social-media following has climbed from 8,000 to 20,000 since the announcement.