As part of total crime fight…
Alliance For Change (AFC) MP Sheila Holder believes that the time has come for the authorities to stop issuing gun licences to civilians; one sure way of reducing gun violence and putting a dent on the illegal arms trade.
The Member of Parliament said that too often criminals would wrest the guns from their victims during armed robberies and this was only equipping the gunmen with more arms. “The gunmen are using more sophisticated weapons so what is the point of issuing small arms to civilians… Civilians are not trained to protect themselves with guns,” Holder said.
The AFC MP who only recently returned from a workshop in Trinidad and Tobago which addressed the issue of small arms proliferation told Sunday Stabroek in an interview on Friday that despite the continued issuance of gun licences to civilians so they could protect themselves, crime continues to spiral out of control and citizens are no safer, with or without a gun.
“Clearly the policy has not worked and it is time we take steps to stop issuing guns to civilians,” Holder an educator-turned-politician said.
However, she believes that before such a policy is fully implemented there must be some real reforms within the security sector; corrupt policemen have to be weeded out from the security services, while at the same time the forces have to be better equipped to deal with the types of crimes being committed today. “It would be an exercise in futility to stop issuing guns to civilians when the security forces cannot protect citizens,” she said.
