Interest groups give mixed reactions to proposed amendments to Firearms Act

Human rights lobby group Jamaicans for Justice is warning that increasing the mandatory minimum sentence for illegal firearm possession, under the Firearms Act, without allowing judicial discretion could lead to further injustices.

The National Security Council, chaired by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, has recommended increasing the mandatory minimum prison sentence, for illegal possession of a firearm from 15 to 20 years in the proposed amendments to the statute.

Executive Director of Jamaicans for Justice Mickel Jackson told Radio Jamaica News that the matter should be carefully handled by lawmakers.

“We have made it very clear that how the law is currently dealt with is that there needs to be judicial discretion restored where the judge can look at all the facts. Having heard the evidence, they must retain the power to depart from a prescribed minimum in exceptional cases,” she said, highlighting those involving children; “those matters where imitation firearms are not used in a crime, first time simple possession or early guilty plea, or in any other situation where the minimum would be manifestly excessive and unjust.”

She added that “if the government is going to be raising the mandatory minimum for possession, it is our humble view that they should ensure that they restore judicial discretion where the judges will give a written reasons for departing from the prescribed minimum.”

Advocates Association

President of the Advocates' Association of Jamaica Tamika Harris has also asserted that increasing the mandatory minimum sentence for illegal firearm possession is not the solution to Jamaica's crime problem.

Ms Harris is urging the government to address the root causes of crime rather than focus primarily on tougher prison sentences.

She fears that the proposed increase in the mandatory minimum sentence could contribute to further backlogs in the court system.

 “So what the government should probably contemplate is working on the conviction rate. I'm also going to say what affects crime really is social infrastructures, poverty, opportunity for work, education. Those are the things that the government really should focus on. Just increasing the mandatory minimum sentence is not really effective.

Ms Jackson expressed satisfaction, however, with the proposed amendments aimed at protecting children exploited by criminals.”

The Council has proposed creating a new criminal offence targeting adults who groom children to use, store, transport or acquire illegal guns.

Ms Jackson says the organization strongly supports efforts to close loopholes that allow criminal gangs to exploit children, reiterating that this was one of the recommendations that the organization made in 2022 when it presented its written submission to Parliament. 

She noted that a similar provision already exists in the anti-gang legislation “where you recognize that children are particularly vulnerable and that you would have criminals who seek to exploit that vulnerability.”

Accordingly, she said, “to create a criminal offense is a welcomed one.”

She added that, while the Parliament and the NSC recognise the vulnerability of children to be exploited, “not only should the recommendation be a criminal offense to address those who are doing the exploitation, but there should be a recommendation and outline of how children are dealt with if it is that they have been exploited.”

She also supports the recommendation to review how the law deals with imitation firearms.

Fi Wi Children

The children’s advocacy organization, Fi We Children Foundation (FWCF), has also welcomed what it says is the National Security Council's recognition that cases involving children found in possession of illegal firearms require further consideration.

The Foundation is urging lawmakers to distinguish between children exploited by criminal networks and adults who recruit or coerce them into gun related activities.

It is recommending diversion and rehabilitation for eligible children while calling for greater accountability for adults who involve children in gun crimes.

Additionally, FWCF also warns that mandatory minimum sentences could limit judicial discretion, arguing that courts must consider each child's age, circumstances and potential for rehabilitation.

It is also calling for clear legal distinctions between toy guns, imitation firearms and actual weapons.

Following the deadly incident in Sligoville, which claimed the lives of two police officers and  left a ten year old child wounded, the foundation is renewing calls for body-worn cameras during high risk police operations.

It says protecting children and supporting effective law enforcement must go hand in hand.