Firearms Act should be allowed to function before any changes made – Felix

By Kurt Campbell

[www.inewsguyana.com] – In a counter proposal to Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee’s call for a review of local gun laws, Opposition Member of Parliament and Shadow Security Minister Winston Felix is of the view that the Administration should allow the current Act to function as it should.

During an interview with iNews, Felix said that the present Firearms Act, though it may be in need of amendments is sufficient to keep guns out of the hands of the wrong persons.

According to Felix, the problem is that too many persons have acquired guns without the process for its acquisition being allowed to run its course.

Rohee’s comments and his Parliamentary counterpart have come in light of an apparent surge in gun crimes and gun related murders.

“All sorts of people are getting guns for all sorts of reasons, the PPP is fanning a fire that they can’t cope with,” Felix said during the interview with iNews.

He said his party – A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) – may be willing to support a review of gun laws in the National Assembly but it must see first what is being brought to the table.

“How can a man who shot himself acquire a firearm license in the same year?” Felix questioned.

Meanwhile, Rohee had also said there is the need for the Ministry of Home Affairs to have an input in the renewal of all gun licenses.

On this note Felix said, “The Minister had better be careful hence he might be moving from one sin into another, the issue is not about renewable it’s about who should and shouldn’t get in the first place.”