Bahamian authorities are being urged to allow for a two-week gun amnesty as the country deals with an escalation of gun violence in the country.
State Minister of Social Services and Urban Development Lisa Rahming said Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander will call for the amnesty and that he would seek a declaration for the amnesty programme from Prime Minister Philip Davis.
“The Commissioner of Police will be seeking a declaration for a two-week gun amnesty by our honourable Prime Minister, which will give persons in possession of illegal firearms the opportunity to surrender these weapons without jeopardy and prosecution.
“Let me make it clear, there will be no reward or money to surrender any illegal firearm. You will not be paid. The stark reality is that there may be some of us who may have inherited a firearm from a husband, grandfather, or uncle who may have had it locked in a safe and just paid no attention to it. We say time to give it up and bring it in,” he said.
Rahming said the initiative is part of the Urban Renewal and Royal Bahamas Police Force’s “Say No To Guns” campaign, which is to be launched here shortly.
She said people who surrender illegal firearms will not be prosecuted, but they would not be rewarded financially.
“Gun violence has been endemic and remains a pervasive issue in some of our communities for too long,” Rahming said as she made her contribution to the debate in Parliament on the national budget.
“We cannot let another young person be gunned down and just step over their body or create a video and circulate it around to social media. It’s not enough to just blame the Minister of National Security and the security forces. We really must join forces to do something that says enough is enough.”
Rahming said Urban Renewal will be distributing flyers and organising community walkabouts and campaign rallies to encourage people to join in the effort, noting that recent crime statistics showed 168 firearms had been recovered so far this year.
She said law enforcement authorities have also recovered 5,339 rounds of ammunition while 243 adults have been charged for firearm possession.
The junior minister also urged people who have firearms just to protect themselves to surrender those weapons.
“We are only providing an opportunity for them to surrender the firearm because we believe if just one weapon is taken off the streets, that reduces the chances of that being used in criminality.”
She said National Security Minister Wayne Munroe and Commissioner Fernander will give more details about the programme.
Rahming also announced plans to launch a Second Chance programme, an initiative meant to help people who served time in prison enter the jobs market.
“The overarching goal is to equip formerly incarcerated males with the view of rehabilitating them and giving them a second chance of being a productive member of society,” she said.
“The participants will enroll in a six-month programme that focuses on healing just as much as it focuses on developing work readiness skills.”