Hundreds of firearm licence applications pending

May 13, 2018 News

– Board finally Gazetted to tackle backlog

More than four months after the names were announced, the new members of the Firearms Licensing Board have finally been Gazetted.
This will now pave the way for hundreds of firearm applications to now be considered.

Reappointed as Chairman of the Firearms Licensing Board, Bert Sukhai

According to the Official Gazette dated May 12, 2018, Bert Sukhai will return as Chairman with Dr. Bhiro Harry, Kim Kyte-John, Dr. Yonnette Roach and Christina Jagmohan making up the rest of the Board.
Reportedly, during the last few months, there was a buildup of the applications, pending the appointment of a new Board. The old one expired last year.
The new Board is for the period of February 1, 2018 to January 31, 2019.
With accusations that gun licences were being sold by officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs, under the previous administration, the Coalition Government has been making statements of clamping down. Persons of questionable characters ended up with licences.
In February 2016, the National Assembly passed the Firearms Amendment Bill, increasing a range of fees in relation to shotguns, pistols, revolvers and rifles.
The fee for a shotgun licence moved from $2,000 to $5000; the cost for pistol and revolver licences jumped from $5,000 to $25,000; rifle fees increased from $7,500 to $40,000 and dealer’s licences up to $150,000, up, from $20,000.
There is a three-stage process for licensing.
The process starts with the application letter being sent to the Commander of the Division who assigns a rank to go check on the applicant’s character in his or her community.
The application is then sent to the Commissioner’s Office to ensure that the applicant’s antecedents are positive in the sense that there were no previous convictions. The application then goes to the Firearm Licensing Board. It is then decided, at that stage, whether the applicant is fit. If so, the application is sent to the Minister for the final stamp of approval.
There are more than 4,500 registered pistols, 3,000 registered shotguns and 3,047 registered rifles by the Guyanese public.
There are no more than five dealers.
The administration had warned last year that scores of gun licences were about to be revoked, in keeping with a decision by the government to weed out those that had been wrongfully issued.
Government had announced a gun amnesty period last year.