FOLLOWING A spate of high-profile murders in the troubled areas of Kingston, Spanish Town and Montego Bay, there is a renewed call for a gun amnesty from political quarters to help stem the accessibility of hardened criminals to illegal guns in the island.
The latest call comes from Clive Mullings, Member of Parliament for St. James West Central and deputy Opposition spokesman on National Security.
In a release issued yesterday, Mr. Mullings declared that this may be the only way to bring a halt to the current crime wave. He called on the police High Command to grant immunity to all persons who co-operate with the police under the programme.
"The programme must be implemented with great haste given the position of Montego Bay as the country's tourist capital," Mr. Mullings said.
GRUESOME SLAYING
Mr, Mullings, an attorney-at-law, makes his call against the background of the gruesome slaying of taxi operator Curtis Vassell who was gunned down by armed men last Wednesday. Mr. Mullings said the swift and vicious manner in which the taxi operator was killed is a clear indication that a significant number of guns is still on the streets.
The JLP spokesman said normal police procedure to fight crime had been met with little success, and it was time for a different approach.
However, groups such as Families Against State Terrorism (FAST) are opposed to the idea of a gun amnesty which, according to them will not address the underlying problems of Jamaica's rising crime situation.
"The gun culture goes far more deeply than that. Before you can solve the problem, you have to identify it, you cannot come with a solution which is not linked to the problem," said Yvonne Sobers, convenor of FAST.
This is the second time in two months that a political figure has made a call for some sort of gun control programme. Last month, Mayor of Spanish Town Dr. Raymoth Notice first mooted a programme as a gun amnesty, but Police Commissioner Francis Forbes cautioned the Spanish Town Mayor that he may not have the authority to launch an amnesty.
The Commissioner asked for more information on the project but Dr. Notice simply changed the name to a gun initiative, and launched the programme. The police and all nine Members of Parliament for the parish were noticeably absent from that launch.
Since then, gun crimes in Spanish Town have increased with a triple murder in late December, and at least 10 murders in the last two weeks of this month.
