61% firearm licences issued in 2020 bypassed Firearm Licensing Board – Benn

…vows to review all gun licences issued by APNU/AFC

A little over a month after the PPP/C returned to office in 2020, it insisted that it would review all gun licences issued under the previous APNU/AFC Administration.
Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn during his contribution to the 2020 National Budget Debate had told the National Assembly that the reason for doing this is because more than half the firearm licences issued by his predecessor, Khemraj Ramjattan were done without engaging the Firearm Licencing Approval Board. He had then accused Ramjattan of taking a “one-man approach” with regard to the issuance of firearm licences.
“It appears as though 2020 was a banner year for the issuance of firearms at the hand of the Minister [Ramjattan] without the engagement of the Firearm Licensing Board. Sixty-one per cent of all firearms issued in 2020 were issued at the hands of the Minister without the engaging of the Firearm Licensing Board,” Minister Benn had told the House in September 2020.

More than two years later, the Government is still bent on having this revision done.
Minister Benn made this position known during the 2023 National Budget debate on Thursday.
“I said it before in this House and I will say it again. I will review all firearm licences issued by the former Minister of Public Security under the APNU/AFC Government,” he informed.
The process from application to final approval or rejection for a firearm licence starts with the applicant completing the required application form which has to be submitted along with the obligatory documents to the Police or Home Affairs Ministry.
The applicant will then be issued an acknowledgment letter by the Police Commissioner who will then forward the application to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Special Branch, and the relevant Divisional Commander, as the case may be, for processing to commence.
During the processing of the application, Police officers will visit the residence of the applicant, who will be required to give a statement, and have his/her fingerprints taken.
The Divisional Commander will verify the information contained in the application, and submit a report to the Commissioner of Police with a recommendation. The CID and Special Branch will communicate the findings of their investigations to the Commissioner of Police.
On receipt of the required reports, the Police Commissioner forwards his findings and recommendation to the Home Affairs Minister for review by the Firearms Licensing Approval Board which will then review the recommendation of the Commissioner of Police, and make a recommendation to the Minister of Home Affairs.
The Minister of Home Affairs will grant or withhold his “no objection” to the recommendation of the Firearms Licencing Approval Board. The Commissioner of Police will then be notified of the outcome of the application and the applicant will be notified, in writing, by the Commissioner of Police of the outcome of his/her application.
Successful applicants are required to pay a processing fee at the respective Divisional Firearm Registry, following which they will commence the process of purchasing, licencing, and uplifting a firearm and ammunition. Unsuccessful applicants have the right to appeal the refusal of their applications for firearm licences under the Firearms Act to the President of Guyana.
In 2018, the issuance of gun licence came under the microscope after former Top Cop Seelall Persaud bypassed the Firearm Licencing Approval Board when he granted himself a licence to open a firearm dealership as well as an upgrade of the calibre of weapons he is allowed to carry. Shortly before he went into retirement, the then coalition Government had forced Seelall to revoke the approval of a firearm dealer licence, which he granted himself.
The former Police Commissioner had described the move as unprecedented. (G1)