Gov’t revisiting mandatory jail for gun offences

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has called on families and communities to play a greater role in helping law enforcement officials to fight crime, as she announced plans to amend the Firearms Act to restore mandatory imprisonment for persons found with illegal guns.

As the recent spate of gun violence and murders spark public outrage throughout the country, PM Mottley at press conference on Friday underscored a national approach is needed to arrest the problem.

“This is not about Government alone, cannot be, has never been, but Government has an essential role to play with the provision of policies and legislation for law enforcement. There is an amendment that will come that will correct the section of the Firearms Act that struck down the mandatory sentencing.

“That amendment pretty much we believe, can follow that which is being done in the United Kingdom, in Turks and Caicos and in other countries, where the sentence and imprisonment for possession of guns would be mandatory unless there are exceptional circumstances that the judge is satisfied can be there,” Mottley said. She added that Attorney General Dale Marshall will present the amendment to Parliament shortly.

Stressing that Barbadians must treat the issue of violence as one people and one nation, Prime Minister Mottley said the country cannot divorce itself from what has been happening internationally with the level of guns, including automatic weapons, being made available regrettably in the last two decades.

She said that while the police has been doing a good job to restrict the number of firearms coming into the island, with the assistance of scanners and improved security systems at the ports of entry, the reality is that guns are in the communities.

“I therefore now want to speak to Bajans directly and to families and to communities because it is us who will take care of one another. And if we don’t speak to those who want to risk our lives by gunplay, or by keeping guns, then we are going to find that the people who they love and we love are going to be the biggest victims of all,” she said.

Pointing out that the judicial system has suffered for two years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mottley said there has been a buildup of cases, in addition to a situation “where judges totally following the law will tell you that you can’t keep a person in custody for beyond x-amount of time without it being a breach of their rights”.

“In addition to that, I can’t help but reflect on this and I got the data from the Attorney General only this week again – we have a list of murder cases that quite frankly, 80 per cent of them that are now to be heard before the courts still pre-date this Government coming into office.

“And that is in spite of the fact that we have created another five judges and that we have also created additional posts for the DPP [Director of Public Prosecution]. As I said, I get it because obviously during COVID you know what was shut down, you know what couldn’t happen and therefore that has retarded things a bit,” she said.

According to the records, 80 per cent of the gun cases before the law courts were there before the current administration came to office, Mottley explained, adding that she was not making an excuse for the current situation.

“Bottom line is, if you are encouraging persons by letting them believe that it is okay to get away, then we have a problem. And that’s why I say that this has to be a whole of nation approach. By the same token, the Government will continue, as has happened, to provide the funding to the police.

“I have indicated to the police at the last security council meeting, but I did it publicly when the Cabinet was sworn in in January, that we are prepared to entertain an increase in the numbers because there are still a number of vacancies,” Mottley said.

She added: “We are prepared, I told the AG again if necessary, to even increase some temporary judges to remove this backlog, especially given the damage that COVID put in it again through to no fault of anyone. But if we can do those things, that still will not be enough because what we are dealing with is a value system that has changed and accessibility to weapons that regrettably are being too readily available throughout the world and particularly throughout the Americas”.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb