…says about 10,000 legal guns in the system

POLICE Commissioner Seelall Persaud has backed calls for the issuance of limited firearm licences here, arguing that there is evidence of less gun crimes in societies that have refrained from issuing gun licences to private citizens.

He pointed to China, where he said no private person is allowed to have a firearm licence; and he also cited the United Kingdom, where the issuance of gun licences is very limited.

Citing the United States as a diametrically contrasting society that has enshrined in its constitution the right to carry firearms, the Top Cop said: “So, in the societies where there are less licensed firearms, there are less gun crimes; and that has been the trend.”

The Police Chief’s comments, made during an interview with the Ministry of the Presidency’s Press and Publicity Unit last week, also support similar observations made by President David Granger. Gun crimes have soared here in recent months, and the authorities have been trying to figure out ways to control the situation.

Disclosing that approximately 10,000 legal firearm licences are in the system, Persaud asserted that licences are not granted on a will-nilly basis. He said thorough checks are done by the Force, along with some level of scrutiny from the Ministry of Public Security.

GUN FOR SHOW
But even as the Police Commissioner made it clear that serious crimes here have in fact declined, he noted that many persons apply for firearm licences not for security purposes, but for status.

“In Guyana, a lot of people who apply for firearms apply because firearms give them a social status. It doesn’t give them a higher sense of security, because, 95 per cent of the time, when a licensed firearm holder is attacked by a thief, his gun is stolen.”

Persaud attributed the holder’s inability to use guns to the lack of training, or to their not being security conscious and therefore being surprised by an attacker. He noted that, in many countries, firearm holders are killed with their own firearms.

A local security firm is currently 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.

Persaud 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.”

Persaud also 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.”

The Police Commissioner noted: “If the evidence — and I think from my readings so far it is showing — that societies with less guns have less gun crimes, it means we won’t be an exception.”

The Police Chief said that if such a system (less licences issued for firearms) were to be employed here, then the country may very well see less gun crimes being committed.

Disclosing that his office sees hundreds of firearm licence applications monthly, Persaud stressed: “It is more of that social status thing than security. All of those (firearms) can get into the wrong hands, or can be in the hands of someone at the wrong moment.”

President Granger has made it clear that his administration intends to see less guns on the streets by limiting the issuance of firearm licences to private persons.

On his weekly televised programme, ‘The Public Interest’, earlier this month, the President said he believes weapons should be used by law enforcement agencies, and not private citizens. He said, too, that there are licensed holders of firearms who rent their weapons to criminals, and as such, efforts are in train to curb such activities.

“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,” the President said.

President Granger said continuing efforts are being employed to detect persons entering Guyana with illegal firearms, and a plethora of measures will be implemented. The President said he is not oblivious to the fact that Guyana’s problem is its 1100km border shared with Brazil, one of the largest producers and exporters of arms in the world.

Like the Police Commissioner, President Granger said a number of illegal firearms in circulation here have been traced to Brazil. “So we will, in the fullness of time, reduce the issuance of legal firearms by enforcing stricter border control through aerial surveillance, through mounted police, and eventually through drones.”

At the end of last month, the Guyana Police Force recorded a 17 per cent reduction in serious crimes. However, over the past month, there have been several armed robberies across the country.