Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has admitted that the island is under threat from the illegal importation of guns and ammunition, less than a week after one Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leader urged the United States to help curb the importation of illegal guns into the region
He is promising that his six-month-old administration will be adopting a zero-tolerance approach to having firearms in communities.
“I want us to understand that our island(s) are under constant threat from the importation of small firearms in particular, they are coming in barrels, they are coming in containers, and don’t be fooled, we are probably the last bastion of little or no gun violence in the region,” he told a town hall meeting.
“St. Lucia is rampant with shootings left, right, and center, we don’t need to talk about our neighbors to the south, Trinidad, we don’t need to talk about Barbados or Jamaica,” he said, telling the audience that they should not take safety for granted.
“So, I don’t want us to take our safety for granted, firearms are also seen as sports, there are ranges people will go to shoot the guns on the range and then go home but the idea that we should be walking around with firearms in my view is inimical to our culture, to our way of life,” he added.
Mitchell was at the time responding to a question from a former police officer who was pleading to have the cost of the firearm license fee waived.
“I am not a fan of private people holding firearms, and that actually includes ex-police officers, and so to me and I am making this clear and I hope that I can get support from my colleagues, I intend to take a zero-tolerance approach to firearms in our communities,” said Prime Minister Mitchell, who is also the Minister for National Security.
“I accept that because of the nature of the work carried out by police officers there will come a time when they should have an exceptional need to be issued with a firearm, but I will say to you honestly that it will be a hard thing for me to suggest that they don’t pay the licensing fee.
In recent weeks, guns and ammunition were discovered after searches were conducted by customs and police officers at the main St. George’s Port. Last year, the police confiscated several illegal firearms as part of drug bust operations and search warrants.
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