MSJ party urges Trinidad PM to rethink proposed ‘stand your ground’ law

The Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) is calling on the government to reconsider its proposal to introduce legislation akin to Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” law, warning it could deepen Trinidad and Tobago’s culture of violence and lacks sufficient public mandate.

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Speaking at a virtual news conference on Sunday, MSJ leader David Abdulah raised concerns about the potential consequences of granting law-abiding citizens broader access to legal firearms for self-defence. He also challenged Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s assertion that the government has a clear mandate to pursue the legislation.

“She (Persad-Bissessar) said the people voted for this, and she has a mandate. Of course, yes, the United National Congress (UNC) and its coalition of interests party won 26 seats, however, the vote count that they got was just about 30 per cent of the total electorate – about 350,000 out of over 1,000,000 registered electors – so about 30 per cent,” Abdulah said.

“So it means while the UNC and its coalition of interests got the majority of the votes of people who cast their vote, remember the vote count was low. The turnout was only 54 per cent. So it means the majority of the population did not come out in a positive affirmative way to vote for the government. And so going forward, the government needs to listen carefully to people.”

Last Thursday, Persad-Bissessar said her administration would move forward with crafting the legislation based on international models — including Florida’s — but noted it would not impose the law on all citizens.

“If criminals invade your homes, do not back down, show absolutely no mercy, and attack them with full force within the law of Trinidad and Tobago. I am fully committed to making sure the law is put in place,” she said, emphasizing that the country remains a democracy and that citizens are free to disagree.

“Today I am voicing mine. Many victims of home invasion have written to me about their experiences. Most victims wanted to defend their families but did not have the equal means to do it,” she added.

Abdulah warned, however, that adopting a U.S.-style stand-your-ground policy risks reinforcing violence rather than curbing it.

“We have already the culture of violence by the criminal element and, therefore, we have to address how do we change that culture of violence that has developed and is being used by the criminal element – how do we change that or do we want to simply reinforce a culture of violence as there exists in the United States,” he said.

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He also criticized the government’s interest in Florida’s legal framework: “That is not a state that is progressive in many respects, and I will simply leave that there. That state has enacted legislation that is really quite backward. We just put a caution there.”

The MSJ, a Trinidad and Tobago socialist political party founded in 2009, is calling for sufficient time for public input and parliamentary debate as the proposed legislation takes shape.