Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan has disclosed that over 500 gun licences were issued by the Firearm Licences Board during the course of last year.
The Minister told reporters on Wednesday that while he could not give the statistics as to the number of applications that were revoked, he disclosed that in terms of issuance of licences, “last year should be about five to 600 from the
Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan
Firearm Licences Board.”
In August last year, Ramjattan had told reporters that he intends to conduct a yearly review on all licensed firearm holders to ensure that they are still compatible with the criteria for issuance.
He had explained that the personality of people often change as they get older and they might not be as sound in mind or body as they would have been at the time when they were evaluated before being issued with the firearm licence.
In this regard, the Minister had said he intends to conduct new evaluations and review of firearm licence holders when they turn-up to renew their licences every year.
“I intend to go back and do the checks every year because some of these people get old and they get depressed, who were very valid applicants years ago. So we have to do an ongoing process and if the ongoing process is going to realise a revocation, I think it is good because after getting (the licences) you are not the same persons from age 25 to age 75,” he had said to told reporters.
The Minister’s position was in light of the fatal shooting of a miner, 25-year old Colin Perreira, who drove his heavily tinted vehicle onto the bridge of a Tucville, Georgetown, residence with the intention of turning the vehicle around. However, the owner of the property, Robert Benn, who was in his yard at the time reportedly thought the occupants of the car had come to commit a robbery and discharged several rounds from his licenced weapon. Perreira was shot three times to the chest and abdomen while his girlfriend who was also in the vehicle was shot twice but survived.
Ramjattan had stated that the Tucville shooting was a very sad situation.
“It’s an extremely sad story; I would not believe that someone from what I’m being told, just sees a car turn into his driveway and then he come down like a cowboy and start shooting… what is that? We got a lot of people that are not mentally sound in this place and they carry arms,” the Minister remarked.
However, another area that the Public Security Minister had explained that needs reviewing is the issuance of gun licences to private security firms.
“At the time when they (firms) might have applied for the licence, they might have had a good set of guys who may do the work for the firm but during the course of the years, those guys fall off. Some go America, some die, some migrate and then we get some people who we did not make checks on and because the company got the licences, we don’t know of some of these characters,” Ramjattan outlined.
