Hinds: Time to enforce tough firearms laws

THE FIREARMS ACT has been amended to widen the scope for prosecution of gun-related offences, with more severe penalties for those convicted. However, according to Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds, those tough new gun laws are not being enforced. “So far I have not heard a judge or a magistrate send anybody to jail for 25 years, or fine anybody $100,000,” he said. “On the other hand, police officers from La Horquetta complained to me that in the Arima Magistrates’ Court recently a man was convicted for possession of a firearm and 15 rounds of ammunition and the magistrate shockingly put him on a bond to keep the peace for two years!

“The police were devastated and I was secondarily devastated when I heard that sad news. The entire justice system has to take stock — not just the police and the prosecution end but the courts in terms of the sentences they apply.” Hinds said it was a “slap in the face of the society,” after all the time and effort, including long hours of surveillance, which go into  the arrest of persons on firearms offences that “it all falls down when a magistrate taps him gently and politely on the wrist.” According to Hinds, who is also the MP for Laventille East/Morvant, a constituency severely affected by gun violence, the illegal importation of guns and other small weapons into Trinidad and Tobago is a direct result of this country’s geographic position as a trans-shipment point in the illegal drug trade.

“Some of the people who deal in the drug trade here are paid with drugs and guns, so some remain right here. Guns come in this country on aircraft, on container cargo vessels, through legal ports of entry. “Guns come in here in barrels sent by relatives in England and the United States. It is impossible for customs officers to manually, physically search every container, so they largely operate on the basis of intelligence or suspicion.” Hinds said Government is trying to obtain equipment to scan containers and barrels for guns, drugs and other illegal material. According to the minister, while there is the widely held perception that illegal guns are being imported into this country by “big men and big businesses,” the illegal practice is taking place at all levels, ranging from the “little people in the ghetto” to drug barons.