'Leave our guns alone': Firearm owners seek definition of assault weapon

GUN OWNERS are calling on the Prime Minister to define "assault weapons," as they fear a change in law will strip them of their weapons.

On April 18, Dr Rowley announced that one of the decisions taken after a Caricom anti-crime symposium was to ban assault weapons for civilians. Since then, gun enthusiasts have been asking one question: what didhe mean?

Legislatively there is no definition for the term. The Firearms Act prohibits automatic weapons. The only definition on record came from Finance Minister Colm Imbert in November last year, during his reading of the budget.

Imbert said then: "We need to tighten up the Firearms Act to properly define what exactly is an assault weapon.”

He added that after doing his own research, he found a definition from the US of an assault weapon as "a semi-automatic weapon that can discharge a significant number of rounds (of ammunition) in a short period of time."

At the closing of the symposium, Rowley said: “We do not require those weapons within our society in a commonplace way...We can continue to provide protection with a small number of handguns in the population.”

Sunday Newsday spoke with gun dealer Dirk Barnes, president of the Civilian Firearms Users' Licence Association Robert Vincent Charles and gun range director and attorney Nyree Alfonso on the proposal, which will affect firearm users' licence (FUL) holders.

Barnes said there are firearms in the hands of civilians that resemble assault rifles and perhaps those were the type of weapons the Prime Minister was referring to, but he said those are not assault weapons.

He said since the comment was made on April 18 the definition of an assault weapon has not been given.

An assault rifle, he said, is a “shoulder-mounted weapon that has a detachable magazine that has a certain number of rounds and this weapon is capable of firing in automatic mode with a predefined rate of fire.

"If the Prime Minister continues with his current trajectory, and he touches any firearm that somebody lawfully bought through the systems and the laws of TT, not only would it not do anything to the crime rates, but it will also continue to spiral. He will now bring so much costly litigation that TT will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages to people wrongfully affected."

He said the proposed ban will not affect gun dealers, as they only act as brokers when the State seeks to buy assault weapons for law enforcement and the military.

Alfonso, who said she was not going to interpret what Rowley said, questioned if it was the calibre of ammunition and size of the gun that was concerning the Prime Minister.

“Assuming you feel that some guns which look long but are nine-millimetre or other calibres and qualify as semi-automatic, and you wish to take those out as civilian hands, of course there will be people who will tie you up in court until hell freezes over and waste taxpayers' money.”

She added: “If the legislation allows you to own it, and the commissioner (of police) gives you the permit to carry it and to import it, what are you going to say? 'I am taking it out of your hands'? Almost everyone will tie you up in court.”

Charles too agreed taking guns away from those who proved they are mature enough and able to own and use them is cause for concern. He said he agreed in principle with the proposal only as it is the necessary step in the evolution of laws.

He said whenever laws are changed, the existing laws must first be examined. He described the announcement by the Prime Minister as just a first step in such a process. He said the next obvious step would be to go after those with illegal firearms.

“There has never been recorded any unlawful act, robbery or murder with an assault rifle by a civilian, simply because those persons who are granted the privilege of an FUL do not have access to those types of weapons.”

Charles said if anything needs to be done regarding legal gun owners, the process of acquiring a firearm must be strengthened. Legislative reform is needed, he said, which will allow the applicant for an FUL to enquire about the progress of their application at any step.

“People who want to apply for a firearm should make a non-refundable deposit. A non-refundable deposit shows that you're genuinely interested in not just getting a gun because you want it. It does not guarantee that you'll be granted a firearm user's licence, but it shows that you're prepared to take the requisite steps to do it.”

He said policies such as these should be looked at in tandem with other legislation on gun reform. Others include extending the period of a provisional licence from three months to a year. This, he said, gives the applicant time to familiarise themselves with guns, even going to a range and learning to shoot properly. This may also convince the person to not own a gun.

Charles stressed that owning a gun is a huge responsibility and anything done to affect gun owners should be done after consultations with them.

Defining assault weapons

Sunday Newsday messaged Rowley, Attorney General Reginald Armour, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds and Communications Minister Symon de Nobriga seeking comment on a definition of assault weapons on Friday, but got no response.

Former police commissioner Gary Griffith said last week the plan to ban the weapon was pointless, as assault weapons are considered prohibited weapons and are already banned for civilian use.

Chapter 2 of the Firearms Act defines a prohibited weapon as (a) any artillery or automatic firearm. Only members of the armed forces and the director of the Forensic Science Centre are allowed to possess one.

Civilians who are granted permission to have semi-automatic rifles are sport shooters, gun dealers and gun instructors. The only other civilians with this type of artillery, automatic or otherwise, are criminals.

In August 2021, Griffith enforced a ban on importing semi-automatic rifles by gun dealers, as more people were seeking to buy them. In an interview with Sunday Newsday then, Griffith said applications to carry semi-automatic rifles by civilians for sport shooting "started getting out of control," and initiated a crackdown on issuing FULs for such weapons.

In April that year, gun dealer Towfeek Ali, Alfonso's husband, was chastised for putting a full-page ad in the newspapers showing the variety of guns for sale. They included the Sig Sauer MPX and PM 400, Smith and Wesson M&P 15-22 and the FN America Scar. All four resemble automatic weapons such as the Heckler & Koch MP 5, AK 47 and M4.

Barnes explained: “There are rifles that cosmetically resemble those assault rifles, but their function and capabilities are far lower than those assault rifles to start with. The weapons do not have the ability to fire automatically. They do not have the mechanisms to cause the high rate of fire. The only functional similarity is probably going to be the calibre of the round.”

These semi-automatic weapons, he said, are in the hands of some civilians, namely sport-shooting enthusiasts, gun dealers and rifle trainers. Those weapons are all semi-automatic, he stressed, despite resembling automatic weapons.

Alfonso said while some rifles use nine-millimetre rounds, if the proposed ban seeks to target the larger-calibre guns, the Government will have to explain the distinction.