Nine guns handed over in only fifteen days for Rotary’s amnesty

David Kirkaldy, President of
Rotary Club

Thursday,  November 17, 2005

The hand-over of handguns and shotguns in the last couple of weeks is a significant step in the fight against crime. Some nine weapons have been handed over to members of the clergy, as well as ammunition in the Rotary Club gun-buy-back and amnesty which started 1 November.

The Club is leading an all-Islands-weapon clean-up in the month-long programme. The Club’s plan was one of a raft of measures from different sectors of the community to help in the serious fight against crime.

Although nine weapons are not to be scoffed at, Rotary’s President David Kirkaldy said he wished the intake had been higher during the first half of the programme.

“Obviously, we would like to have seen more guns come in when the reward figure was higher.”

Mr Kirkaldy said this because the reward amount decreases after each week as the month draws to a close and, he assumed that the inflow of weapons would also decrease as the month closed.

Despite that however, others are positive about the results this year. One person who recalled results from the last such programme said, “I think the intake was less than we are seeing now.”

Additionally, another person underscored that the stated objective of such programmes is simply to lower the number of weapons available for crime and violence.

Against that background, indications thus far are that this objective is being achieved.

As well, other objectives to publicise the connection between weapons and violence and, to try and nurture an anti- gun violence culture.

The gun club here has strict regulations for membership and that club’s licensing regulations do not extend to acquiring a weapon for personal security.

In addition, over the last few months, the different Chiefs of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) have given a stern “no” to the question of arming all officers to fight crime on the streets.

One source close to the project said: ‘One Gun, One Life’, noting a popular slogan and a truth associated with such campaigns.

The programme has other elements besides its guns-for-cash component and taking weapons out of harm’s way.

It comes coupled with an amnesty on firearms possession for November only. The amnesty applies only to unlicensed firearms handed in to a member of the Ministers Association (928-PRAY).

Weapons found during police investigations or random searches during the month do not qualify for the amnesty. The same is the case for crimes that may be linked to a firearm turned in.

Another big plus for the programme is that no information about the person, persons or other circumstances surrounding the handover of the weapon or weapons during that month can be handed over to the courts as evidence.

One officer of the law who supported the programme said, “Programmes like gun buy-back and gun amnesty are being used around the world with increasing frequency, even though there are not concrete statistics to prove that they can, in themselves, reduce the number of weapons in circulation or prevent crime.”

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