KINGSTON, Jamaica, Oct 26, CMC – The main opposition People’s National Party (PNP) Monday voiced support for the National Security Council’s recommendations to amend the Firearms Act by distinguishing toy guns from real firearms and reviewing cases involving children.
“One of the major issues that we’ve had with the current firearms legislation is that it does not sufficiently distinguish between fake guns and real guns. So everybody gets a mandatory minimum of 15 years, whether you have a toy gun or water gun or a gun that can discharge lethal bullets,” said the PNP’s spokesperson on justice, Zuleika Jess.
Speaking on a radio programme here, Jess said the PNP had always maintained that the law needs to be tough on crime without being tough on common sense.
“So we do in fact welcome the recommendation that a distinction will be made because you can’t apply a one-size-fits-all approach. Different offences should be met with different penalties,” Jess said, adding “so that is indeed a move that we would welcome and we believe that that would help to strengthen the legislation.
In a statement on Sunday, the National Security Council (NSC) recommended increasing the mandatory minimum sentence for illegal firearm possession from 15 to 20 years as part of proposed amendments to the firearms legislation.
The NEC’s recommendations comes more than a month after criminal defense attorneys protested the existing minimum sentence, arguing that judges should have the flexibility to impose penalties based on the circumstances of individual cases.
The proposed amendments to the Firearms (Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation) Act, 2022, would also create a new criminal offense for adults who groom children to use, store, transport or acquire illegal firearms.
“This is necessary to address the gap whereby gangs seek to recruit and enlist minors in the commission of gun crimes,” the statement said.
The proposed legislation would address concerns about imitation firearms by distinguishing between toy guns and weapons designed to realistically resemble actual firearms. It would also examine issues involving firearms with expired licenses.
Jess said that the PNP is relieved that the NSC will be giving further consideration to how cases involving children found with illegal firearms are handled.
“From what I understand, the proposal and the recommendation is that a person who seeks to utilise children to carry illegal firearms, they will not be dealt with differently. That is also a concern that we would have raised on the part of the opposition that it can’t be fair, it can’t be, it cannot make good sense for us to be giving children the very same penalty and sentencing as we would give to a hardened criminal who has actually used the child for their own benefit, for their own purpose.
“Essentially, the child is a victim in the circumstances. And so it really made no good sense to be applying the very same penalty to the child. So we do in fact welcome that recommendation as one of those that we would have advanced previously,” Jess said, adding “so we’re actually happy and in fact relieved that that is a consideration that appears to have found favour with the National Security Council.”
The Ministry of National Security and Peace has been directed to prepare draft legislation incorporating the proposed amendments by the end of November 2026 for wider consultations, according to the statement.
Before the new provisions take effect, the government plans to introduce a gun amnesty and cash buyback program to allow people holding illegal firearms to surrender them.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the proposed changes were intended to strengthen the law while protecting vulnerable people.
“We are determined to send a strong signal against illegal guns and those who promote them, while making sure the law is fair to the most vulnerable,” he said.
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