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The government has announced the launch of a new gun amnesty initiative, giving individuals in possession of illegal firearms the opportunity to surrender them without penalty throughout the month of April.
The amnesty, which begins Monday and runs through April 30, was approved by Cabinet in response to a recent surge in illegal gun seizures and related arrests.
According to Chief of Staff Ambassador Lionel Hurst, several individuals have already been brought before the courts and sentenced to up to two years in prison under the country’s updated firearms laws.
“This is yet another opportunity for people to hand over unlawful firearms,” Hurst said at Thursday’s post-Cabinet media briefing. “There’s now a mandatory jail sentence for those found in possession. So we urge individuals to do the right thing and turn them in.”
This marks the fourth or fifth gun amnesty held under the Gaston Browne administration since 2014. While previous rounds have not resulted in large numbers of weapons being surrendered—fewer than 10 in some cases—officials maintain that every firearm removed from the streets is a step toward reducing violent crime.
Firearms can be surrendered anonymously at the police headquarters without fear of prosecution.
Hurst emphasized that even one gun handed in could save a life, and reiterated that the goal is to create safer communities.
Authorities continue to warn against the smuggling and sale of illegal firearms, which they say remains a serious threat to public safety. The amnesty is being paired with stronger law enforcement efforts and stricter penalties for offenders.
“We hope this measure will be seen as a final chance for individuals to avoid jail,” Hurst said. “This is about making Antigua and Barbuda safer for everyone.”
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It’ll be fine you have absolutely nothing to worry about…..But wait what it the firearm is linked to a mur…….
Those gang boys better take this chance
What the big fish supplying the guns? We know for a fact that they will never turn a leaf
Gun amnesty will never stop the big gun issue on antigua
Amnesty again? What going to make it different from the last time ?
I wish this could be successful but it is my belief that no single event or amnesty will cause people to easily give up their illegal firearms. More and more people today are waking up to the idea that maybe they need more guns in the hands of honest people to be used to stop the bad guys. People today feel a sense that they have to defend themselves, their lives, their properties, their business and their families from all sorts of evil people. Those guns that are found on the few crackheads and other headless criminals are just a drop in the bucket and certainly they did not import them. Police need to do more intelligence lead work to apprehend and catch the grand importers (business people) who brings them in hidden in containers. If we do not plug that source and supply, then the common man would always be fed with guns. There are far more illegal guns in the country than we can think or imagine. People with illegal guns need more than just words to hand in their weapons.
[…] Gray’s Farm has been sentenced to over four years in prison after being caught with an unlicensed firearm and […]
Gun amnesty initiatives will always have a limited impact whether they take place in Miami, New York or in the Caribbean for obvious reasons. And for those that think Antigua has a major gun problem, it’s much smaller when compared to islands such as St. Kitts, St. Vincent, St. Lucia or somewhere else that I am very familiar with, the Turks and Caicos Islands (48 murders last year – most with guns). It’s a region wide issue and amnesty’s will only make a tiny difference.
“The Hot Guns; those that Kill anyone or Shoot anyone, we don’t want them so you can discard them however you see fit”. For sure, you are not getting those. What do you really expect to achieve? You have been ashamed long enough so put the amnesty on hold and make the apology first.
I neeed a gun for protection, they keep tresspaasing and tiefing my tings in Swetes.