Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 01, 2014 Editorial
If the increasing frequency with which guns are being stolen from licensed firearm owners is not occupying the consciousness of the Eve Leary administration, it should be uppermost if the Guyanese people are to enjoy any degree of safety and security in their daily lives.
The entire rationale and process involved in the application for and approval of licence to have possession of a firearm is not something that should be taken lightly. We expect that the vetting process should be an intensive one where the background of the applicant will be scrutinized extensively.
There will be problematic areas that will require a sensitive approach since people are apparently still not comforted by the lack of respect for confidentiality on the part of the police.
People have had their weapons stolen in several ways—from their homes during a burglary, or break and entry in their absence; from their persons during robberies at their homes; from their cars when left unattended; and from their persons during armed robberies. The thing is to get a serious determination of the most prevalent and least risky manner of relieving a licenced firearm owner of his/her weapon.
From all indications to this point people in possession of a permit to carry firearms do not have the kind of follow up scrutiny that should accompany such an important responsibility.
It should go without question that the authorities have a moral obligation to ensure that those persons who have been granted the privilege of owning a lethal weapon should, at the very least, be required to submit themselves to a formal process of accountability.
The experiences in other places should serve to inform local knowledge and to derive an appropriate approach to addressing certain issues; and the burning issues of firearm theft should rate right up there among them.
From 2005 through 2010 approximately 1.4 million firearms were stolen during household burglaries and other property crimes, according to a Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics report. This figure represents an estimated average of 232,400 firearms stolen each year which translates into about 172,000 stolen during burglaries and 60,300 stolen during other property crimes.
The Guyana experience in terms of numbers might pale in comparison, but taking several factors into consideration, we have no cause for celebration especially if no proactive strategies are being employed to stem, if not eliminate, the problem of weapons theft.
Among the elements which should not be ignored are the number of licenced guns out there; ownership demographics; per capita dispersion; number of guns stolen within the past five years, and the manner in which they were stolen; number of stolen guns identified as being used in the commission of crimes; number of stolen guns recovered or surrendered to the authorities.
The demographics of ownership to find out just who have been granted firearm licences for any given period should be interesting. This could assist in determining if – in spite of some effort to control the entire process whether centrally or in a decentralized framework, the system allows for the type and level of discretion which collides with commonsense.
It should be unacceptable for a young adult to even be considered for a firearm licence outside of a joint application process regardless of the claim to owning business or similar reason. The implications are myriad, but a brief look at the more critical ones will suffice.
In several instances reports have been made of the display of, and indiscriminate discharge of firearms by the privileges set with no regard to the likely consequences. Of course there are no punitive actions since the reports go exactly nowhere because of who is involved. So there! Recall the incident on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway some years ago when one man with influential ties shot another fourteen times and escaped the consequences.
Recently we have seen that guns seem to be assuming the pride of place in the suicide of those who have been granted firearm licence approval. It would appear as if no system is in place to address what can turn out to be a significant feature in a virtually uncontrollable social problem.
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