Clarify rules on gun ownership

- Photo courtesy Pixabay
- Photo courtesy Pixabay

After Towfeek Ali advertised guns for sale at on April 11, a minor storm ensued.

Advertising Association president Julie Harris described the ad as being "in poor taste."

Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith went further, asking gun dealers not to advertise.

Mr Ali said the advertisements targeted owners of firearms user’s licences (FUL), but the message was unfortunate in a society plagued by gun violence and a disturbing gun murder count.

More worrisome was the range of weapons on show, including semiautomatic rifles designed not for self-defence or hunting, but for high-powered armed response.

It's chilling to consider what the market might be for these guns beyond the police service, the armed forces and security firms.

If there is any advertising to be done, it should come from the police, detailing both the requirements for a gun licence, the penalties for owning a weapon without one, and the types of weapon to which such a licence applies.

There is a notable fuzziness around those requirements. Applying for a licence requires a certificate of character from the Commissioner of Police and a certificate of competence issued by a licenced gun instructor.

Beyond that, it's up to the police whether a FUL will be issued. There is no published requirement for any other evaluation of the user's ability to manage a killing weapon.

To drive a car or ride a motorcycle, there's a licensing authority that evaluates competence.

Mr Griffith seemed to understand there should be more controls in place for legal owners of guns, and suggested that there would be additional measures introduced to monitor how licensed users make use of their weapons, tracking ammunition bought, as well as visits to gun ranges.

There was some welcome news from DCP Mc Donald Jacob at Thursday's press conference.

Mr Jacob announced progress in ballistics testing by the police ballistics section, created to complement shell-matching work done at the overburdened Forensic Science Centre.

Recent improvements in testing have increased results, with 340 tests done over the last two months, a rate that would have taken three years previously.

It remains to be seen whether more test results lead to better prosecutions. Ballistics tests have a spotty history of providing useful case-building evidence, despite their plot value in television police procedurals.

Newer technologies such as microstamping and the Integrated Ballistic Identification System are more labour-intensive, but provide clearer links between guns and shell casings and are significantly more effective at linking known guns to crimes.

There's little to be done about illegal guns beyond improving monitoring smuggling and seizing and destroying them when they are found.

But guns acquired under licence should be subject to more effective controls before they are cleared for use.

Comments

"Clarify rules on gun ownership"

More in this section