-firearm was used in a murder

A MAJOR local security firm is being investigated for allegedly “renting” its guns to unlicensed persons. One such incident has allegedly resulted in the rented firearm being used in a murder.Police Commission Seelall Persaud, making this damning disclosure during an interview with the Ministry of the Presidency’s Press and Publicity Unit last week, said: “We have information that security companies that are inherent to business entities are involved in unlawful purposes. Right now we have a murder investigation going on, and one of the lines of enquiry is that a licensed firearm holder for a number of firearms for his security company is renting those guns to persons who are not authorised to carry firearms; and one such incident (has) resulted in the murder of a person — which we are investigating.”

As he continued to provide details of this damning revelation, Persaud said: “We have heard about this happening in many other instances, and the Commissioner of Police is authorised under the Private Security Act to conduct audits. We have been doing that; however, I think we would need to provide more resources into it, so that we can do these audits more frequently and spontaneously, so that we get evidence of what is happening.”

But speaking at the launch of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) Christmas policing programme on Monday, the Top Cop said the GPF has no evidence linking recent robberies and other gun crimes to licensed firearms that may have been rented. He also said that there was no intelligence or evidence to suggest that the recent upsurge in crime is politically motivated.

Reacting to President Granger’s recent statement: that a crime campaign is afoot to embarrass his Government and the Police Force, Persaud said: “People also respond to sentiments expressed in the media, thinking that this is a cause they may be helping; so indirectly it can have an impact. The question is whether our intelligence is saying that. No, it isn’t saying that!” Persaud told the forum.

PRESIDENTIAL INITIATIVES
Amidst increasing incidents of gun violence here, President Granger has said that his administration is looking at tightening up the firearm issuance regime by granting fewer licences to private citizens.

Observers say that Government’s move, if accompanied by serious reforms in the security sector — including stricter monitoring of the country’s borders — would put a dent into gun crimes.

Disclosing that there are legitimate firearm licence holders who rent their weapons to criminals, President Granger has said he is working in collaboration with Public Security Minister 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,” he said.

The President has promised: “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.”

LONG OBSERVED
Alliance For Change (AFC) founder the late Sheila Holder had made similar observations in a 2008 article carried in the Stabroek News. In that article, she opined that the time had come for the authorities to stop issuing gun licences to civilians as one sure way of reducing gun violence and putting a dent on the illegal arms trade.

Holder had also said 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 that Stabroek News article as saying.

PPP PERSPECTIVE
Weighing in on the issue, former Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, at a press conference held on Monday at Freedom House, said attempts by President Granger and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan to allay the growing fears and anxieties of the Guyanese people over their safety and security will not succeed by these two personalities telling the people that they have “nothing to worry about”, or “not to be alarmed”, or “to be patient”.

Rohee contended that the Guyanese people have no assurance that they would not be robbed in their homes, places of work, or on the streets simply because Government has responded by “putting troops in targeted areas to allay their fears and to help arrest the crime situation”.

He opined that all assurances would fall on deaf ears, unless people begin to see tangible and sustainable results from the efforts of law enforcement operatives in bringing the crime situation under control.

Government, Rohee said, must make greater efforts to enforce law and order by including Guyanese at every level. “PPP had pointed out that crime prevention must be given the same emphasis (as) crime solving. In fact, it is crime prevention that the population is demanding with every passing day… The good life which the APNU+AFC claims that Guyanese are entitled to will not be realized with the constant loss of life, limb and/or property,” Rohee, a recent robbery victim, has said.