Police commissioner keen on new Firearms Act

WESTERN BUREAU:

Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson has welcomed the steps being taken to enact the new Firearms Act, as he strongly believes this major crime-fighting tool will help to keep convicted killers in prison for substantially longer than they are being kept under the existing laws.

According to Anderson, who was speaking to members of the religious communities, justices of the peace, business leaders and civic society at a stakeholders’ meeting in Westmoreland last Thursday, the new Firearms Act, which is now on its way to the Senate, will create a clearer path for police, through the courts, to apprehend persons dealing with illegal firearms.

Anderson says an illegal firearm has no place in our society, especially since it is being used to commit heinous crimes.

“…There is no purpose for an illegal firearm but to kill somebody,” said Anderson. “There is no animal to hunt, they don’t have anything else to do with the gun. It cannot chop cane, and it cannot peel fruits, it is not a knife or a machete, it is a gun, it has one purpose, and that is to shoot people. An illegal gun is there to shoot people and do murders; that’s what it is there for.”

LOBBYING

Anderson said the police force has done a lot of lobbying for stronger legislative crime-fighting tools in relation to illegal firearms, and he is thankful that it is bearing fruits.

“What that means is that for those people in the illegal gun trade, possess it, trafficking, transporting it into the country or whatever you do with it, you will be facing sentences of 15 years and upwards,” Anderson said.

“Then the guy who you saw with the gun and gets caught, you don’t have to worry about him again for a long, long time,” the police commissioner said, in emphasising how the change in the law would make things better.

“That for us, as police officers, will make a huge difference, because the team in Westmoreland has seen these guys like a revolving door. They have been in our custody, charged for illegal guns, they have paid their fines, got their one-year conviction, and they are back out to do the same thing.”

Along with the new gun law, Anderson said the regulations of the Road Traffic Act will also further empower the police to restore law and order on the nation’s streets, including saving lives and protecting properties.

“…We are looking forward to and we can definitely see light at the end of the tunnel of getting these going,” said Anderson, in also welcoming the new traffic regulations.

Last Wednesday, legislation containing more stringent gun-control measures were approved in Parliament. It received support from both sides of the House and was passed without any amendments.

Embedded in the legislation are much harder penalties for offences linked to the illicit trade, manufacturing, stockpiling, possession, and use of illegal guns.