From right, Marshall-Burnett... will call police if armed MPs are seen entering Parliament. Left, Morrison... finds idea of armed MPs in Gordon House frightening.
Robert Hart, Staff Reporter
SENATE PRESIDENT Syringa Marshall-Burnett and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Michael Peart, are to meet to discuss the problem of Parliamentarians taking their licensed firearms into the House.
The decision was taken during yesterday's sitting of a Senate committee examining the current facilities at Gordon House on Duke Street, downtown Kingston. The point was raised that Members of Parliament regularly enter the House armed with their weapons, creating a potential security risk.
"The police officers have and continue to complain that Members of Parliament regularly enter Gordon House armed with guns, flouting convention," Clerk of the House Shirley Lewis noted.
"They (MPs) have facilities downstairs where firearms can be kept, but they will not abide by the rules."
Ms. Lewis made her comments following a query from Justice Minister Senator A.J. Nicholson whether the issue of armed MPs was "now being fully monitored." Senator Nicholson posed the question when the topic of security came up for discussion.
Opposition Senator Arthur Williams chided the suggestion that the MPs' disregard for the security system may stem from a reluctance to hand in firearms in public view.
But Senator Anthony Johnson, committee chairman and Leader of Opposition Business, argued that he had not been aware of the facility for handing in firearms. "I'm hearing for the first time and I suspect that most members are not aware," he said.
A bemused Government Senator Deika Morrison was prompted to question the apparent lack of police authority in putting a stranglehold on the bearing of deadly weapons in the House. "I wasn't aware that individuals could choose or elect to not abide by the rules. I mean, can't the police tell them they cannot come in?" she asked.
CALLING THE COPS
The Senate President soon jumped in, suggesting that someone must have the responsibility for telling any House or Senate member that they would not be allowed to enter with a weapon. "I want to say very clearly, if I observe anyone (armed) coming to the Chamber here, I will ask them to leave and if they don't I will call the police," she said.
Opposition Senator Bruce Golding noted, however, that it must first be determined if there is an actual rule against the carrying of firearms in the House. "My interest in it is only procedural. I come here with the confidence that there is nobody in this Chamber who would do me ill," he said.
Mr. Golding added: "As I understand it, presiding officers (House Speaker or Senate President) in the past have made a ruling regarding the presence of firearms in the Chamber. Is there a rule that forbids the carrying of a licensed firearm within the precincts, and if so, what is the authority for that rule?"
The Senate President could only reiterate that the ban on firearms was the usual practice.
But an incensed Senator Morrison was resolute in her stance against the guns. "I cannot understand why someone would feel it is necessary to be armed inside the Chamber. That is frightening to me," she said.
She added: "These people get on a plane and they travel to other countries where they can't even have a regular knife on the plane, and they have no problem. But they don't want to come into Parliament and abide by the rules? I find that to be very distasteful."
At the end of extensive deliberations, the committee charged the Senate President with the responsibility of meeting with the Speaker of the House of Representatives (Michael Peart) to determine a solution to what could amount to a serious security risk in the House.
