Repeat offenders to be jailed for life
By: Richard Lord (Guardian).
National Security Minister Brigadier John Sandy introduced legislation in the Senate yesterday aimed at cracking down on illegal guns and ammunition which are used to commit murder and other serious crimes.
Sandy said the legislation will also deal with rogue elements in the Police Service who sell or transfer firearms and ammunition. Under the new law, a member of the protective services “can be liable on indictment to imprisonment for 20 years.” He said this provision deals with police officers, members of the Defence Force, the Director of the T&T Forensic Sciences Centre, any scientific officer designated by the Director of the T&T Forensic Science Centre, a customs officer and a prisons officer.
The Firearms (Amendment) Bill which Sandy introduced for debate in the Senate yesterday requires a constitutional majority and is one of a comprehensive package of legislation which demonstrates the Government’s “affirmative action in seeking to reduce the level of lawlessness and criminal activity which pervade our society.” Sandy told the Senate: “We have heard too often of the instances when members of the protective services are accused of renting firearms to criminals...This is something we must stop and we must stop firmly.”
Sandy said the proposed legislation “will serve to clamp down on the illegal practice of renting or selling firearms by those rogue elements that have invaded our protective services and law enforcement services.”
Amendments to the bail and evidence laws, as well as anti-gang legislation, were among the other measures expected in Parliament shortly, Sandy said. He confirmed that “a high percentage of crime in this country are gun-related,” and stressed: “This state of affairs is untenable and thus a harsher measure of gun control is required.” According to the minister, the bill was part of the Government’s decisive action as there could be no excuse for recklessness, negligence or lawlessness. “We have the experiences where our children and other family members are traumatised...robberies are committed and senseless killings accompany these robberies,” he said.
He said the bill proposes an average of 50 per cent increases in penalties for offences involving a firearm or any prohibited weapon as defined in the legislation. Dealing with the three strikes law, Sandy said: “This Government envisions that this version of the three strikes law will be effective because it will target those repeat offenders who have refused to change their criminal behaviour.” He said the criminal element in T&T “includes young children, old folks.”
He said the criminals “engage them in keeping these (unlawful) firearms...So you would find in some of these areas young boys (and) girlfriends also engaged to keep these firearms for their bad boys boyfriends.” He said there had been instances “where the elderly in our society, these criminals would engage them and pay them to keep the firearms. “So you would find the police would go on raids and there is a little old lady so we shouldn’t bother her but you’d find under her bed firearms are stashed,” he added.
The National Security Minister said until the President “proclaims that the Act comes into force on a fixed date, it shall not be considered to be implemented.” In seeking to explain, Sandy said that was not intended to be a cause for great delay but there were “minor administrative matters” to be put in place before the law can be fully implemented.
