Benn concerned about rising gun crimes

Jul 23, 2025 News

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…says authorities mulling stiffer fines, jail time to tackle problem

Kaieteur News – With a rise in gun violence here, Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn on Tuesday said that the authorities have to look at ways to stem the tide by increasing the fines and jail time for persons caught with illegal firearms.

In recent times there has been a rash of gun crimes across the country- many of them resulting in persons losing their lives. The most recent case saw a young teacher in Linden, Jenel Pollydore being gunned down by her ex-boyfriend during a wedding reception last Saturday evening.

Before that incident, we had the wanton killing of two men on the Buxton Linetop, followed by another execution-style killing in Linden. There have been several others as well as daily armed robberies across this country. Most of these cases are yet to be solved, although police have arrested suspects in two of the recent killings.

Speaking with Kaieteur News on the sidelines of his inspection of a diesel leak on Saffon Street on Tuesday Benn told Kaieteur News that the law enforcement agencies are cognizant of the rise in gun crimes. According to him, the issue of illegal firearm possession is on top of the agenda of the security forces. Benn said: “We are working on the question of gun control …We have drafted a new Firearms Act. We got to think just now in terms of increasing fines and incarceration for persons found in possession of illegal weapons. And even if, these persons are licensed, we have looked at the use of it. A person with a gun license should not be allowed to go to a bar and just be brandishing his weapon.”

The minister said most of the illegal guns have been entering the country through Guyana’s porous borders. “The guns are illegal guns. They are coming in to the country through the borders and most of them are manufactured in the United States of America. We have been arresting quite a number of persons in particular a number person for intimate partner violence with the guns and firearm killings many of them in possession of illegal guns.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Law Enforcement, Wendell Blanhum during a presentation of crime statistics late last year had acknowledged that armed robbery, particularly involving firearms, remains the most prevalent crime of concern. Blanhum had said that pistols, especially high-capacity models with the ability to hold up to 17 rounds, are the firearms of choice among criminals. These weapons he said are favoured due to their easy concealment and greater ammunition capacity. The deputy commissioner had also pointed out that in response to the alarming increase in illegal firearms, the police had made significant strides in recovering weapons, with a record 162 firearms seized in 2024—the highest in a decade.

Observers have said that spiraling gun violence is a fact of life in Guyana today. “It is almost the exception when a firearm and its usage threatened or actual is not part of the mix, meaning, crime on the street, or something going on in the home. It does not have to be the direct costs to victims and their families, but such costs extend to the workplace, particularly if a state agency, in terms of lost man hours and productivity, and the sums expended on training, with seepages into the wider economy,” Kaieteur News wrote in an editorial on Tuesday.

The issue of gun violence and also rising crime have been a topic during the current election campaign. Former Deputy Commissioner of Police, Paul Williams decried the current state of the police force, which he said, has extremely deteriorated under the current PPP government. “You can see definitely where the force has come to. They have destroyed every fabric that was built by our predecessors. They have destroyed all the camaraderie and everything in the force, they have burned bridges,…they need those who they can make puppets…” Williams who is a candidate for the APNU told a rally Sunday night.

He referred to the 2022 report of the Police Complaints Authority which detailed some 194 complaints to be investigated. Four of those complaints were fatal shooting by police officers. Williams said when the recommendation was made for charges to be laid against the officers, those charges disappeared. The ranks were instead encouraged to settle the matters.

He said the government has been fully aware of these issues and chose not to take action against the head of the police force. “You want a government like that? Nowhere, we will not go with a government like that.”  Citing the recent 25-year sentencing of SWAT constable Sherwin Peters for the killing of Essequibo businessman, Orin Boston back in 2021, Williams pointed out the judge’s comment which stated that the police’s action was disproportionate, unjustified, and unlawful and that the police had acted unjustly entering Boston’s home without a search or arrest warrant.

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• crime, illegal guns, Law Enforcement, Robeson Benn, Strategy

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