File photoKlao Bell, Staff Reporter
With the rising incidence of violent crime, some members of the public, feel that like citizens of the United States of America, they should have the right to bear arms.
But the police say Jamaica is not mature enough to handle a relaxation of the tough and tardy process by which gun licences are issued.
Some people feel that they should have the freedom to defend themselves against what is perceived to be an imminent attack by criminals.
"A man knows that you have nothing to defend yourself when he is digging off your grill to come rape off you wife and murder you and you pickney them so him don't think twice," said a young dentist who recently shipped off his wife and child to North America.
Ironically, a senior policeman said he was disappointed that more criminals aren't being killed by licensed firearm holders.
"We give them the arms so they can protect themselves and at least help the police fight crime, but they don't use their weapons," the officer said.
The demand for gun licences has increased, but many people who want to own a weapon feel that the process is difficult and corrupt.
"When you apply for a licence, if the police don't feel like it you're not going to get it and others have got rich selling licences to whosoever will. With people's life at risk they're going to find any way to protect themselves," said a well-known Kingston businessman.
Police admit that sometimes it takes up to a year before a licence is issued, but they insist that this is to ensure that careful background checks are done.
"One of my friends who was being threatened, died waiting for the police to give him a licence...and I know four people right now, who have guns because they refuse to wait on the system to approve them," the businessman said.
Illegal guns
Reasons like these have given rise to an illegal guns and ammo trade. A niche market exists where "respectable" persons with regular day jobs are also selling ammunition in their back yards to licensed and unlicensed firearm holders.
A case of bullets holding 500 rounds could go for between $30,000 and $40,000. Many of the buyers are average Jamaicans who may never fire a gun. Others are young men, members of the criminal underworld who need to supply their army.
In a record ammunition find in November, three men were arrested and charged with dealing in ammunition without a dealer's licence, when police seized a record 41,000 rounds of ammunition.
Some of the bullets found were suitable for AK-47 and M-16 weapons, used mainly by underworld thugs. Traders are also "speculating" on bullets, stockpiling in anticipation of election time when the prices are expected to increase from the present $50 - $100 per round.
Licensed firearm holders who buy from these illegal dealers claim that they are frustrated with the Government's restriction of 50 rounds per year and say this is not enough to practise and protect their business.
One businessman said, "Everytime you turn around there is a riot or a protest or something, we need adequate rounds to at least scare off a crowd. Back in Gilbert you know how many shots I fired downtown to keep them away from my store?"
A proposal put forward over lunch with two businessmen from an old Jamaican merchant family is that private gun dealers should control the sale of guns and the issuing of licences.
"A person should be able to buy a gun from a dealer once he can meet the requirements. If he shows identification and proof of proficiency in handling a firearm then the dealer should do the necessary background checks - and if he qualifies then he should get the gun and the licence," a 35-year-old businessman said.
He argued that this was a way for the police to be able to track the weapons in the country. He said too that this would make the police's work easier as the responsibility would be in the hands of entrepreneurs who should run the risk of stiff penalties and even jail time - if they resort to corrupt practices.
"Now instead of chasing after so many illegal guns, they would just have to monitor the few gun dealers," added the other grey-haired businessman, who lives in Miami but still operates businesses locally.
But senior officers scoff at their suggestion, describing it as simplistic.
"If you liberalise the gun market, there is no guarantee that persons in the underworld won't have access to it. Background checks also have to be done but some communities they wouldn't even be able to venture in without the police escort - are they then going to discriminate on the basis of their address," scoffed Deputy Superintendent Noel Amos.
Donald Brown, the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of the National Firearm and Drug Intelligence Centre, (NFDIC) shook his head at the suggestion.
"A number of illegal firearms are already on the streets, our endeavour is to plug these holes. Easier access to weapons would frustrate that process. There is a fascination with guns in Jamaica and little appreciation of the value of human life - we are not mature enough for that move right now," ACP Brown said.
ACP Brown insists that the present system is adequate.
"The guidelines that we use now are adequate, it already excludes those who can't qualify for guns," ACP Brown said, while acknowledging that there have been flaws and corruption in the police management of the issuing of firearms.
He said, "Policemen who have been found to abuse the system have been dealt with and others are under investigation."
Police suspensions
Police sources say that a number of the police transfers, suspensions and dismissals since January are connected to the discovery that policemen of all ranks were selling gun licences.
The present crime situation makes it an unfavourable time to propose easier gun access. But is it only that Jamaica is not mature enough to handle this proposal? Or is this another display of myopia on the part of the lawmen?
One policeman who described the proposal as foolish, said "The Government has to protect people from themselves when they come up with these crazy ideas." This kind of thinking cuts down at the root any potential solution that a more and legally armed citizenry could offer.
What if easier gun access were met by stricter penalties for wrongful shootings; greater efficiency in investigation of shootings, quicker rulings from the DPP, shorter turnover of cases in the Coroner's court?
Could all this help to ensure restraint by users of the firearms. But then, is it a question of restraint. Tens of thousands of Jamaicans are licensed firearm holders and only 55 persons have been fatally shot in the last four years.
The police are fearful of weapons going into the wrong hands. Legitimate concern. But would a co-ordinated effort between the police and private dealers result in a functional system to satisfy the desire of law abiding citizens to own a gun? Or is this a subconscious confession that the crime problem is and always will be untameable?
It is clear that many people have not given serious thought to the possibility of easier gun access. A matter of concern though, is that the intolerance for this idea and the insistence on its futility, may be the same kind of intolerance that has prevented radical changes and improvements to the justice system and the fight against crime.
