Griffith to business community: I will give you guns

POLITICAL leader of the National Transformation Alliance (NTA) Gary Griffith said the only things stopping people from getting their firearm user’s licence (FUL) were political interference and intimidation.

In a statement on Thursday, Griffith said police had been conducting rigorous and thorough checks before issuing provisional gun licences and politics was holding up the process.

“It was the men and women of the police, which means that they have already gone through a robust and thorough assessment. And as such, nothing but political interference and intimidation appears to be stopping the issuance of the FULs.”

Griffith said while business owners called for guns and the average citizen lived in fear, politicians were protected with state resources.

“This is why I give the nation the assurance that after this present government is democratically removed, the incoming government will continue to adhere to the law, and legal firearms will be issued to suitably qualified citizens.”

He accused National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds of throwing Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher "under the bus."

The topic of FULs reignited after the shooting death of businessman Rishard Ali on Wednesday. On Good Friday, another businessman Bingzhang Zhu was killed moments after closing his San Juan supermarket.

Ali, 48, was killed during a car-jacking after leaving his Caroni Savannah Road, Chaguanas, home.

Police report that shortly after speaking with a man and driving off, Ali was shot multiple times and ran out of the vehicle before collapsing. He was taken to the Chaguanas District Health Facility where he was declared dead on arrival.

Griffith said Ali had acquired provisional approval for a firearm over 18 months ago, but never got a FUL. Griffith said Hinds was continuing a narrative that legal firearms were the issue when he told another newspaper that a “robust and thorough assessment” of applications for FULs was needed.

Hinds said: “As far as I am aware, based on my interaction with the Commissioner of Police, applications for firearms are being received and are being processed. In light of recent developments, the Commissioner of Police has expressed that there will be a thorough and robust assessment of those applications before grants are made.”

Griffith said the robust and thorough processes Hinds spoke of were all implemented under his leadership.

“The 14 measures put in place under my watch became the most 'robust and thorough process' in the history of the police. The evidence to support this is also clear, since not one of the 4,000 firearms issued between 2018 and 2021 has been lost, stolen, misplaced, had a negligent discharge, or was involved in any crime whatsoever. Dozens of times, however, they have been involved in protecting the lives of their owners, their loved ones and their assets.”

In a media release on November 6, last year, Griffith said, “of the 520 or so murders (for the year),” only one was committed with a legal firearm. He was referring to the murder-suicide of teacher and attorney, Keisha-Marina Bostic, and her estranged husband, Shamzard Mohammed, two days earlier.

Mohammed were issued FULs for five guns under Griffith's tenure from as early as 2019. Griffith was police commissioner form 2018 to 2021.

Griffith, on Thursday, added that while the investigations into the firearms unit was centred on his time as commissioner, he did not personally do the investigations that granted Ali his provisional certificate and for the others that were issued under his watch.

The issuing of FULs was stopped after two separate external probes into the firearms unit under Griffith. The first external probe came from retired Appeal Court judge Stanley John, which was commissioned by the Police Service Commission (PSC) and a few months later three retired officers – Wellington Virgil, Raymond Craig and Luke Charles – along with three current officers and a secretariat from the National Security Ministry oversaw an audit into the firearms unit. The report of the audit cannot be published after Griffith took the state to court and won.

Apart from the two external investigations, the police also conducted its own investigation resulting in eight officers being charged for misbehaviour in public office for allegedly accepting cash to fast-track the granting of licences.