Ex-acting CoP Williams: No right to bear arms in Trinidad and Tobago

DO you have a legal right to own a gun?

Yes, said Acting Commissioner of Police (CoP) Gary Griffith; no said former commissioner Stephen Williams.

Speaking on the Radio 95.5 FM on Tuesday, Williams replied to Griffith's briefing on Monday where he rejected Williams' criticism in a Sunday newspaper of his approach to issuing firearms users licences (FULs). Griffith had blamed a 50,000 backlog of FUL applications on alleged slackness before his tenure "where people were not given their right to bear arms and defend themselves."

Williams told the Morning Show, "In Trinidad and Tobago today there is no constitutional right of any citizen, the right to bear arms. That is under the US Constitution. The English system from which we have adopted our laws, there is no right to bear arms.

"You are not entitled to a firearm in TT. The law doesn't provide any entitlement to firearms. There are established rules, there are Privy Council decisions which clearly show the discretionary nature of the commissioner to deal with firearms."

Anyone disputing a commissioner's decision, Williams said, could turn to the Firearms Appeal Board.

"But there is no constitutional right to bear arms."

Griffith told Newsday on Tuesday that citizens had a legal right to own a firearm by applying for an FUL under the Firearms Act.

"Our law states the eligibility to have a firearm. If persons adhere to all the requirements, it is their right to be issued with a firearm."

He said no commissioner must "play God" to deny law-abiding citizens guns, based on a CoP's own feeling that only the police must have guns.

"You cannot deprive citizens of their right because the law says for someone to have a firearm there are several stipulations you must adhere to. My point is that if you adhere to all of these stipulations, a commissioner must not be so self-centred to say that even though these persons have adhered to everything required by law that allows them to have a firearm, 'I think he should not have.' The job of the CoP is to enforce the law and if it is that specific regulations give persons an authorisation to have a firearm, then so be it."

"The law states specifically that a citizen has a right to carry a firearm if they adhere to the regulations. No commissioner should deprive citizens of that right because of his personal view."

Asked about the Firearm Act banning prohibited weapons, Griffith said he has never approved any such weapons.

Williams warned radio listeners against gun proliferation, by recalling a jogger who accidentally shot himself trying to holster two pistols in his car.

"He shot. He drove himself to St Clair Medical Institute and was hospitalised.

"Are you seeing that? Do you know where he got the additional pistol? Anybody asking any questions about that? Anybody asking how many firearms he has?"

Williams said this incident conflicted with claims that all licensed guns were being kept under lawful control.

"Who could say which firearms were used in a robbery unless you arrest the persons who robbed the individual?

"To issue five firearms to any individual in TT – this is not the wild wild west."

Williams said "absolutely all" CoPs before him shared his view on issuing FULs.

"It is what you could call common sense. Think about it. I tried not to get into this public fight with anyone and stay out of discussions concerning the police service for the past three years. I've not commented on things even when I felt I should, but I did not.

"You think about it – a person in TT having two pistols, two shotguns, having what you want to call a 'sport rifle.' Now where in the world does that happen?"

Referring to claims of 37,000 illegal guns in TT, Williams said the most seizures of illicit firearms had taken place under his term as acting CoP.

Griffith told Newsday TT's criminals own tens of thousands of guns, and as the police cannot guarantee everyone's safety, law-abiding citizens should be allowed to own guns.

"We must give citizens permission to protect themselves. There has been a dramatic decrease in robberies in the past five years as criminals realise business owners may have firearms."

Asked if this was risky, he said that out of 5,000 firearms licensed, not one had been lost nor used wrongfully such as for a murder or robbery. "Not one was misused."

These firearms had averted hundreds of robberies, Griffith said, with by recent FUL-awardees drawing firearms to protect themselves, their family and their assets.

He said TT has a very stringent application process for FUL's including vetting and psychometric testing, with many applicants rejected by a police due diligence and an intense background check on the state of their marriage, their associates, their financial state and any objections from family members.

"Our laws and police made it so stringent. We don't want to see what happened in other countries."

The Firearms Act says, "A person may purchase, acquire or have in his possession a firearm or ammunition only if he holds a Firearm User’s Licence." An FUL applicant must be at least 25 years old, and must first seek a two month provision licence to be able to learn to shoot, as supervised by an FUL holder.

The Commissioner may refuse an applicant convicted under the Domestic Violence Act, and may suspend the FUL of someone newly-convicted, in each case for five years.

The Firearms Act says certain members of the protective services plus customs officers and the Director of the TT Forensic Science Centre don't need a FUL in order to have a gun.

The US Constitution Second Amendment says: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Some US commentators says this empowers individual ownership, while others say it merely espouses a citizen militia.

The TT Constitution, however, gives no right to bear arms, but protects certain rights (eg life, liberty, security and enjoyment of property) and freedoms (eg movement, conscience and religious belief), all "enforced" by the Preamble's stated belief in the Almighty and fundamental human rights.