ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, Aug 1, CMC – A three-month gun amnesty has ended here with the authorities receiving six illegal firearms and more than 300 rounds of ammunition.
But Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Claudette Joseph, told a news conference on Thursday that the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) had during the period May 1 to July 31, confiscated 34 illegal firearms during raids and or other police-related operations.
“At the end of the Amnesty period, the Royal Grenada Police Force recovered 34 weapons or firearms and 914 rounds of ammunition and directly under the amnesty there were six weapons recovered and 339 rounds of ammunition,” Joseph said.
“We considered that if we recovered one weapon, we would have been successful with the amnesty but we have recovered six. Some jurisdictions right here in the region that attempted amnesty were not as successful as us, for example the amnesty in Barbados recovered one. In total we had 40 weapons taken off the streets and over 1200 rounds of ammunition,” she added.
Under the amnesty, people with illegal guns who handed them over to any police station were not charged for illegal possession nor any information was taken from them about how they obtained the illegal firearm.
“This amnesty was aimed at reducing the number of illegal firearms on our streets,” said Joseph, who pointed out that as of Thursday, August 1, anyone found with an illegal firearm will be charged under the amended legislation which also went into effect as of Thursday.
The amended legislation prohibits magistrates from granting bail to any person charged under the Firearm Act. Granting bail for such offenses must be applied to a High Court judge. The amended legislation also mandates tougher penalties.
Before the amendment, the penalty for possession of a firearmat the Magistrate’s Court started at EC$4000 (One EC dollar=US$0.37 centss) with a maximum of EC$20,000 or imprisonment for two to five years.
“Now on summary conviction there is no fine which the magistrate can impose. Instead there is a minimum of 10 years in prison or up to 20 years and that is on summary conviction,” Joseph said.
On indictment in the High Court, the new penalty will be imprisonment with a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of up to 40 years, Joseph said.
Previously, the fine was between EC$20,000 and EC$60,000 and imprisonment for five to 20 years.
CMC/ls/ir/2024