Turn in illegal guns or face jail – Ramjattan

Georgetown : Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, has expressed his satisfaction so far with the gun amnesty initiative, and he is urging persons to “bring in those illegal guns.”
“I am pleased that the first day was wonderful, to get a 1000 rounds of ammunition is worth the whole month quite frankly and we must be proud of the fact that it is working.”
The Minister further stated that during his visits countrywide to address Guyanese, he is also using that opportunity to promote the initiative. “As I come to these meetings, I am telling people, get those friends and family who you know got guns that are illegally possessed and persuade them to bring them in,” he said.
Minister Ramjattan explained that the initiative is one of many which the Administration will implement in its crime fighting efforts. “It is only one of the tools in the tool box, there are lots of things we have got to do, gun amnesty is one,” Ramjattan explained.
The Minister has again issued a strong call to persons who possess firearms illegally to turn them in during this one month amnesty period. “I am promising that if you don’t bring them in, in this month, and we catch you, we are going to ensure that you don’t get bail,” Ramjattan asserted.
The minister advised that the law enforcement agencies are getting ‘tip-off’ as to who possesses illegal firearms. He pleaded with those persons to take those guns in to the nearest police station.
The Minister assured that if caught with any illegal firearm, after the one month amnesty period is over, ‘persons will be jailed with no bail.’
The Gun Amnesty initiative was introduced on September 01, 2015 and provides for persons to hand over unlicensed firearms and ammunition to the law enforcement agencies without facing prosecutions. The amnesty ends September 30.