On the Parliamentary Opposition radio broadcast “Just the Facts” on Monday, January 28th, 2024, hosts of the programme, Opposition Leader Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge and Member, Mr. Cardigan Connor, both objected to the manner in which the firearms legislation was passed and the gun amnesty enacted.
Richardson-Hodge and Connor did not just object for the sake of being critical about the Government’s moves towards gun control, but the fault they found had to do with the fact that, in their view, the community was not adequately informed about the two measures.
As it pertains to the firearms legislation, Mrs. Richardson-Hodge said: “In the House of Assembly last Tuesday, there was the passage of the firearms legislation, and both Government and Opposition were united on strengthening the firearms laws.”
“One of the things that I had hoped for,” she said, “however, was that this government would have launched a serious campaign across the island to inform the public so that people could have understood what these Bills entailed before they were passed in the House of Assembly.”
She said that this was her view because with the passage of the Bills there are [revised] mandatory sentencing for certain crimes, such as the possession and discharge of a firearm. She noted that sentences are based on whether or not the crime meets the minimum sentencing guidelines.
“Because these sentences impose the deprivation of liberty,” she said, “where a person would be sent in jail, when he might have thought he would have gotten away since he did not had two or three strikes, now that is no longer the case – depending on the type of crime.”
She insisted that she was expecting the Government to go throughout the land canvassing and informing the public about what was coming down with the revised legislation, because a lot of people would not have appreciated that the laws had been changed.
“Though there was a consultation meeting at one location,” she acknowledged, “still more effort should have been made to sensitize the public on this revised legislation. The people of Anguilla should have known that this is what is happening and this is what is coming down the pipeline”.
As far as the gun amnesty is concerned, the Opposition Leader made it clear that if there were people in the community who had relatives whom they might have known to have a gun, and if peradventure the Government had conducted an island-wide campaign, such persons would have been in a position to encourage their relative, whether, child, grandchild, cousin or whoever, to willingly give up their firearm during the amnesty period.
“I find that the government has failed in this regard, not properly informing the public,” she opined.
Weighing in on the matter, Mr. Connor first told his Leader that he was proud of her as she made her presentation in the House, debating the revised firearm legislation last week. He then said that quite often those in authority tend to come down with a heavy hand upon those who would commit an illegal act.
“Of course when one commits a crime there is a price to pay,” he concurred, “but the offender must understand what the law says. So, I totally agree with you. The Government should have let the general public know that they are working together. It is not ‘law enforcement’ on one side and the ‘general public’ on the other side. It is not the law against the public. That promotes a great divide and sets up an element of mistrust on the part of the people.”
Mr. Connor took a step further and suggested that it would have been effective to confront the holders of firearms directly. “It would have been ideal if the powers-that-be would have gone out and say, ‘Let’s work together on this. We know that you have a fire arm that is illegal and you should not have it in your possession. It is not a toy; it is a weapon of death. So hand it over.’”
“And regarding the amnesty,” he said, “although it means good, It is how you go about it that counts. The ones that really need to be targeted are the ones that are not listening. So they need to be found and brought to the table.”
“These young men need to be sensitized to the gun-related challenges that exist,” he said. “And all of them would have to come to the table because one group [or gang] is not gonna (going to) bring their guns and put them on the table when the other group won’t do it. So it is a great opportunity for the powers-that-be to reach out to all these vulnerable youngsters. The amnesty is fine, but we need to dig deeper and reach out to the disturbed youth in order for it to be effective. We just can’t say ‘bring in your guns between these dates,’ and expect them to do so.”
