The Tribune

By LETRE SWEETING

Tribune Staff Reporter

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

STATE Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal Lisa Rahming said a “Say No to Guns” campaign will be launched in the next two weeks, with a gun amnesty programme to follow much later.

Months ago, she said a gun amnesty programme would be launched, but that never happened. In July, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said he expected the programme to be introduced that month.

Under a proposed two-week amnesty that Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander would call, people could surrender their illegal firearms and escape punishment.

“The amnesty is not the first thing we’re going to do,” Ms Rahming said in a recent interview.

“We are going to try to encourage our youth and our young persons to say no to guns. So we’re going on an all-out campaign. And, of course, the amnesty will come way after that. And, of course, we’re not going to stop anybody who wants to turn their guns in, to turn them in.

“All of that information will be shared with the media, certainly before the end of the year. Crime is going on now. It doesn’t stop, so we don’t stop. We just keep going.”

Ms Rahming highlighted the importance of the gun amnesty programme in June, noting that there were 168 firearms and 5,339 rounds of ammunition recovered for the year to that point, while 243 adults were charged for firearm possession.