Kamla Persad-Bissessar has warned that her Opposition UNC won’t support Government’s proposed changes to the Firearms Act, which includes restricting where people can carry their legal firearms.
Persad-Bissessar issued the warning on Monday night, as she called out the Dr Keith Rowley administration for its inaction as the spate of killings with illegal weapons rises.
At a UNC meeting at Brazil High School in La Horquetta, Persad-Bissessar said, “Non-stop crime, violence and demonic bloodletting in T&T under this Government! It is top-down crime!
“Look at what’s happened in Cocorite! In light of that massacre and ongoing crime in communities all around T&T, I call on the Government to tell the country whatever became of the Anthony Watkins Committee they appointed in 2020 to investigate crime in depressed communities … and the Prime Minister says ‘it could be worse’.”
She added, “In one of his many gimmicks to put off dealing with crime horror, Rowley, in July 2020, announced this committee to examine crime in hotspots. The country never heard again about that committee, its recommendations, or the Government’s adoption of those measures…tell us!”
“But since March this year, there have been three mass shootings with illegal firearms … and I’m told, from last Friday morning to Monday 6 pm, there were 17 shootings and out of those 17, 11 people were killed this weekend … when you look at those photos, you wonder if we’re in Gaza! Yet we have a Prime Minister missing in action…what’s happened since the Caricom crime symposium too? There have been 47 murders per month in T&T, last year it was average 45 so there’s been an increase.”
Persad-Bissessar said the UNC wouldn’t support proposed changes to the Firearms law (which was the subject of a letter from the Attorney General to the Police Commissioner).
She noted that activist and businesswoman Jowelle De Souza was recently tied up, beaten with a gun, robbed and threatened that she would be shot.
“And you want to tell me, you don’t want to give legal guns? We’ll fight that and never support these amendments to the Firearms law! This wicked Government is bringing legislation to Parliament to make it much harder to access legal firearms.”
“They’re doing everything they can to help criminals attack you —recommending gun-free zones —Parliament, courts, schools, colleges, universities, child care centres, bars, banks, places of worship, and any government or private buildings declared by the minister. Basically, they’re saying you cannot have a legal firearm in any of these places, so you’ll have to leave it at home if you’re going to the bank or to your child’s school to pick them up.”