AMID rising gun violence here the David Granger administration is looking at tightening up the firearm issuance regime by granting fewer licences to private citizens.Observers say the administration’s move, if accompanied by serious reforms in the security sector including the stricter monitoring of the country’s borders, will put a dent into gun crimes. The late Alliance For Change (AFC) founder, Sheila Holder, had made similar observations in a 2008 article in the Stabroek News in which she too said that the time had come for the authorities to stop issuing gun licences to civilians; one sure way of reducing gun violence and putting a dent on the illegal arms trade. Holder had said then that too often criminals would wrest the guns from their victims during armed robberies and this was only equipping the gunmen with more arms. “The gunmen are using more sophisticated weapons so what is the point of issuing small arms to civilians…Civilians are not trained to protect themselves with guns. Clearly the policy has not worked and it is time we take steps to stop issuing guns to civilians,” Holder was quoted in the Stabroek News as saying.

Rent-a-gun
Speaking during the recording of his weekly programme, The Public Interest, President Granger revealed that there are legitimate firearm licence holders in Guyana who rent their weapons to criminals. As such, the Head of State explained that he is working in collaboration with Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan to reduce the number of gun licences issued.

“So we would like to see fewer weapons in the hands of private citizens; it is my personal view that weapons should be used by law enforcement agencies – the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force.” According to the President, “We will try to detect people coming into the country with illegal firearms so there is a plethora of measures which will be implemented and our whole policy is aimed at getting guns off the streets and leaving guns in the hands of the police and the army.”

Only recently Ramjattan had declared that there are “too many guns” on the streets and warned that a review of all gun licences will take place to ensure those who have deserve same.

Ramjattan had said that depressed persons are killing themselves and others, while situations under which persons received gun licences have also changed. Some officials are convinced that undeserving applicants legally acquired gun licences through a facility of Police Commissioners, CoPs being the last authority to receive gun licence applications before they are sent to the Board for approval. Former cop, PPP security personnel, and self–confessed death squad member Shawn Hinds stated last year that seized guns were sold to criminals by police.

Hinds himself had come under fire when the public questioned whether the “questionable” character who once body-guarded then PPP-appointed Town Clerk Carol Sooba was licensed to carry a weapon in the City Hall compound. It was never made clear whether Hinds had a firearm licence, and whether he had received same under the previous administration.
Border control

Border control
Meanwhile, addressing the issue of border control, President Granger explained that Guyana’s biggest problem has to do with the 1100km border shared with Brazil, which is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and exporters of small arms. He revealed that many of the illegal weapons in Guyana are traced to Brazil. “So we will, in the fullness of time, reduce the issuance of legal firearms and by enforcing stricter border control through aerial surveillance, through mounted police and eventually through drones.”

According to the Head of State, government is also establishing a core of wardens who will have law-enforcement powers. He said they will be operating in the gold-mining and timber-producing areas. “They will also be operating in the tourism sector to provide protection and they will help us to detect people who have illegal firearms and bring those people to justice,” the President said.

The Guyana Chronicle had reported recently that former Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Retired Brigadier-General Mark Phillips noted that incidents of gun-related crime in the country are at their highest, and has ranked the issue as the most pressing matter facing the society.

Speaking in a private capacity at the opening ceremony of a one-day security forum and expo organised by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Phillips said he is aware of efforts made by government over the years to improve the security situation of the country while simultaneously addressing crime. “I place at number one violent crime, because notwithstanding the crime statistics that speaks to a reduction in crime, it is my firm belief as a citizen of Guyana that the high incidence of gun-related crimes is today the most pressing problem in the Guyanese society”, Phillips had said.