Guns for off-duty prison officers soon as AG makes amendments to Firearms Act

Off-duty prison officers may soon be granted permission to carry guns.

During his contribution to the Senate budget debate on Friday afternoon, Attorney General Reginald Armour announced a planned amendment to the Firearms Act that would allow the Commissioner of Prisons to give off-duty officers the rights to carry a firearm.

Armour said: “The proposed amendment to the Firearms Act is in direct response to, among other things, the recent and disturbing trend which sees the brutal public executions of serving prison officers.”

He said this bill will empower the Commissioner of Prisons to let a prison officer have a gun or ammunition while off-duty or in any public place where the commissioner considers the officer’s life or safety under threat from the public.

According to Armour, the amendments would work in tandem with other regulatory changes on the possession and ownership of assault weapons.