Chang eyes quickfire gun law review
Published:Wednesday | February 16, 2022 | 12:09 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Parliamentary Reporter
Chairman of the joint select committee examining the Firearms Act, 2022, Dr Horace Chang, is opting for a legislative sprint in order to impose severe punishment of up to life sentences on gun-crime offenders.
While acknowledging that the bill was complex, Chang told committee members that the parliamentary group would go through the proposed statute “quickly, but not rushed”.
In the context of the sustained crime problem plaguing the country, Chang signalled on Tuesday that the committee had planned a series of meetings, including all-day deliberations in March to complete its review of the new law by the month end.
The committee met Tuesday for the first time and has outlined an onerous schedule of at least 11 meetings in March, some of which will be all-day deliberations from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Between March 9 and March 31, members of the joint select committee will engage in rigorous debate on the proposed law. A deadline of March 10 has been given to stakeholders who want to make submissions to improve the bill. On that same day, committee members will receive submissions and begin to review them.
The Parliament will shortly invite members of the public to make submissions on the Firearms Act, 2022.
The committee has set a quorum of five members, including the chairman, but meetings will be held in a hybrid format, allowing some members to participate from a virtual platform.
Presenting an overview of the legislation, chief technical director in the Ministry of National Security, Rohan Richards, indicated that there was a direct correlation between the proliferation of illegal firearms in Jamaica and the unacceptably high levels of murder.
He said that statistics show that firearms were used in the commission of 85 per cent of the 1,463 murders committed last year, with a further 1,258 persons shot and injured.
According to Richards, the data also showed that in 2021 a total of 624 firearms were seized along with some 8,800 assorted rounds of ammunition.
This compares with 623 firearms seized in 2020 along with 10,150 rounds of ammunition.
Discussing the need to repeal the current law, the senior government technocrat pointed out that there were several operational challenges highlighted by the Firearm Licensing Authority. He said that the director of public prosecutions had raised some concerns as well as the Jamaica Constabulary Force which complained about enforcement issues based on limitations in the current legislation.
“There was also the need to incorporate the provisions of existing international instruments to which Jamaica is either a signatory or a party,” Richards said.
He said that the legislation establishes a new framework with a regime that targets unregulated firearms and related activities to include illicit trade, manufacture, stockpiling, possession and their use.
There is also a regime for the treatment of regulated activities in relation to the manufacture, trade, possession and use of firearms and ammunition in Jamaica, and creating offences for breaches of the regulatory system.