Firearms Bill Tabled In The House

The Firearms (Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation) Act 2022 was tabled in the House of Representatives on February 10, introducing harsher penalties for offences connected to the illicit trade, manufacture, stockpiling, possession and use of illegal guns.

The legislation is aimed at addressing the challenges being experienced in the country with respect to the proliferation of illegal firearms, and importantly, to increase the applicable penalties for breaches of provisions relating to prohibited weapons.

The Bill has been sent to a Joint Select Committee of Parliament for further deliberation.

National Security Minister, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang, who tabled the Bill, noted that guns are the weapon of choice for criminals in Jamaica.

He pointed out that the risk of being apprehended while in possession of illegal firearms and ammunition outweighs the consequences, adding that the existing legislative framework provides no disincentive for criminals, and those who support their activities, to hand over the illegal guns.

As such, he said that the Bill will introduce a more robust framework and comprises two regimes – one to treat with prohibited weapons and the other dealing with firearms duly registered by the authorities.

“All guns that have not been subject to the local regulatory regime are considered prohibited firearms and will be treated with strong penalties. This regime includes all unregulated firearms and connected activities, such as illicit trade, manufacture, stockpiling, possession and their use,” the Minister noted.

It also introduces new provisions, which will address Jamaica’s adherence to international obligations. These include provisions relating to stockpiling [Clause 6], trafficking [Clauses 7 and 33], diversion [Clause 12], marking of firearms and the capturing of ballistic signatures [Clause 29 and 31], and establishing a national control system [Clause 28].

Clause 19 of the Bill provides that the Minister may declare a firearms amnesty by order, subject to affirmative resolution.

“This amnesty will allow persons who are in possession of illegal firearms to surrender these firearms and ammunition to the State without prosecution for a short period before the full impact of the Bill is initiated,” Dr. Chang said.

For the last 25 years, Jamaica has recorded, on average, 1,270 murders annually – the vast majority being committed with illegal guns.

For the four-year period 2018 to 2021, some 2,700 firearms and more than 44,000 rounds of ammunition were seized. Last year (2021), 85 per cent of murders were committed with the use of a gun, while 72 per cent were attributed as gang-related.

At the same time, 80 per cent of the 765 robberies involved the use of a firearm and 1,258 shooting incidents were recorded across the island.