MP Chin: Give gun licences to all law-abiding citizens

In the wake of a double murder in Porus Friday evening and swirling crime concerns in wider Manchester, a government lawmaker is lobbying for easier access to firearm licences for law-abiding citizens.

Commenting on the gun killing of businessman Jin Siam Ye and Alphonso Cohen, a bystander, Manchester Southern Member of Parliament (MP) Robert Chin is advocating for honest citizens to have the right to armed self-defence.

“If any law-abiding citizen wants to own a firearm, I think that they should be given the opportunity. On our books now, owning a firearm is a privilege and not a right. I would like to see that arming yourself becomes a right. A right to defend your own life and your property,” he said.

Chin, who was speaking outside St Augustine Anglican Church in Porus, where he was attending the funeral for former councillor Vincent Augustus Copeland, believes that killing armed criminals in the process of committing offences affords the police clues to follow their trail.

“So it is very important that honest citizens can arm themselves and defend themselves, because when you have these shootings and you have bodies or injuries behind, police have a lead that they can quickly follow those leads and trace the source of these criminals where they coming from,” the first-time lawmaker said in a Gleaner interview.

Those leads, according to Chin, will provide evidence that the majority of in-parish crimes are not committed by Manchester residents but migratory criminals.

Citing a spate of robberies in Cross Keys last week, Chin said that the attacks were linked to criminals outside of Manchester.

With Christmas a fortnight away, Chin is encouraging businesspersons to beef up their security presence.

“If you have one security guard, increase it to three over this season. When you realise what’s happening with states of public emergency (SOEs) in other parishes, criminals go to parishes such as ours that are not under SOE, so you will find that the activities will increase. Business places, in particular, just protect yourselves; you know that they are coming,” he warned.

Bencle Hibbert, CEO of Wheels and Wheels Group of Companies and a Porus native, said Saturday that crime and violence was eroding job opportunities.

“It drives away employment, and everybody needs a job to send their kids to school, to provide food, to provide housing, everything. So when all of these things start to happen, what we are saying is, ‘Mash up Jamaica and done’,” said Hibbert.

“Under my dead body and under my watch, somebody will have to desist.”

Hibbert shared that since Friday’s incident, he has been in discussions with other stakeholders trying to find solutions to crime.

“It’s bad and too bad when something minor happens, but a businessman who provides employment, you know what type of spin-off that is for the community?” he said.

cecelia.livingston@gleanerjm.com