GUN RACKET

Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) CEO Shane Dalling has released a barrage of allegations against several employees at the under-fire entity, claiming that an extortion ring once headed by a former senior official benefited key players in the $6.5-billion gun industry.

The bombshell revelation came Tuesday during a press conference at the AC Hotel in New Kingston, where Dalling told journalists that corrupt practices were widespread across the three offices of the FLA in Montego Bay, Mandeville, and St Andrew.

Dalling said between 2014 and 2017, more than 200 people with criminal convictions or adverse traces were granted firearm licences, including dancehall artiste Jah Cure, a well-known Corporate Area don, and an ex-convict who returned to the island after being extradited.

Documents seen by The Gleaner also showed that Clint Rennie, the brother-in-law of Dennis Meadows, former deputy chairman of the FLA board, was among the more than 200 people of questionable character granted licences.

“During the period where persons were getting gun licences under questionable circumstances, everybody made money from it,” said Dalling.

This would include trainers, who generate approximately $40 million annually, according to documents seen by The Gleaner, range operators, who bring in just under $90 million, gun dealers at $325 million, and security companies at $5.6 billion.

Ammunition sales amount to roughly $452 million per year.

“In fact, during the period one year, dealers sold $1.2 billion worth of firearms based on the sheer volume of persons who were getting gun licences. So, the dealerships across the country benefited from the corrupt practices,” Dalling alleged.

He said based on restrictive measures implemented at the FLA, which resulted in fewer people being granted licences, dealers have seen a concomitant reduction in sales and profits.

The CEO said those developments have spurred several people to lobby for his removal from the post, which he has held since 2017. Some of them, he said, have argued that the slowdown in sales has caused the shuttering of their businesses.

“They feel that the policies being implemented are strict and are affecting their businesses,” Dalling said.

Dalling said that the unnamed former FLA official, who sought to extort applicants millions of dollars, resigned without sanctions after learning that the Major Organised Crime & Anti-Corruption Agency was investigating the matter.

Dalling slammed the Ministry of National Security which, he said, was not without blame because it did nothing to “cauterise” the situation even after learning about the extortion ring.

“In fact, it mushroomed among the staff and it was now widespread what was taking place. So, the Ministry of National Security was aware of what was taking place,” he said, adding that there is correspondence from the ministry warning the board to cease the practice of granting licences to individuals who were going through the appeal process having been denied a licence.

Some of the gun permit applicants had convictions for murder, firearm offences, and drug trafficking.

In the case of Rennie, documents showed that he was convicted for possession of cocaine and had his application denied in August 2015 on the basis that he failed to disclose his criminal conviction.

Without submitting an application for appeal or making a new application, he was granted a licence in June 2016, three months after Meadows joined the FLA board.

The licence was later revoked in February 2020.

Meadows confirmed to The Gleaner that he was part of the board that approved Rennie’s licence but said that he declared at the time that he was related to him.

He denied allegations made by Dalling, who raised grave concern about his conduct as an FLA director, calling the CEO’s utterances incendiary and defamatory.

“I am a straight shooter and speak my mind openly and forthrightly. I do so without fear or favour,” he said.

The former FLA deputy chairman said he has forwarded recordings of the press conference to his attorneys.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com