POLITICIANS TO AWARD GUN LICENCES?

THE Keith Rowley Administration is moving to politicise the distribution of firearm licences. 

A planned new system of granting Firearms Users’ Licences (FUL) would essentially place the authority into the hands of a Cabinet minister. 

This is the informed explanation from sources who are aware of the details of a report from the Office Law Enforcement Policy (OLEP) on a review of the firearms licensing system. 

The report is the precursor to a dramatic change in policy with respect to the awarding to FULs, according to knowledgeable sources. 

The OLEP report is being officially handed to National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds. 

The new policy would be modelled after Jamaica, which, in 2005, established the Firearm Licensing Authority as a statutory body within the Ministry of National Security. 

Critics of the Jamaican system said it led to widespread corruption. 

There is speculation that the local version of the planned authority would be chaired by retired Rear Admiral Hayden Ritchard, who was one of two members of a civilian committee that recently investigated the granting of FULs. 

The report was given to Prime Minister Rowley, and shocking aspects were featured in a daily newspaper. 

The investigating team allegedly found gross irregularities in the awarding of FULs, and the growth of a lucrative support industry providing relevant goods and services. 

The newspaper termed the matter a guns-for-sale racket. 

In setting up the committee, the relevant Police Service Commission and Complaints Authority were bypassed. 

The political Opposition claimed that Rowley has politicised the Police Service, which is an independent agency. 

The informed sources said that empowering the Minister of National Security to sign off on gun licences is a “dangerous development,” which could turn the matter into a politically partisan one. 

He also said that certain politicians are known to have links with underworld characters. 

In order to alter the current policy, the Firearms Act must be amended by Parliament. 

The allegations of wrongdoing in the awarding of FULs come in the midst of a major hoopla over incumbent Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith. 

The newspaper reports claim that some applicants were able to purchase several high-powered firearms.