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GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Monday August 17, 2015 – A promised gun amnesty to help authorities get illegal guns off the streets will take effect in two weeks.
Government has announced that all is on track for the Gun Amnesty Programme (GAP) to be launched on September 1.
The initiative is in keeping with a plan announced by Vice President and Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan.
The government said feedback from the Guyana Police Force had suggested that members of the public may not want to hand over illegal firearms to lawmen and an independent organization would therefore have to oversee the collection.
The Guyana Times reported yesterday that a church organization had been chosen for that role and the final aspects of the plan were being finalized.
“We are trying to work out a couple of areas where we are going to ask members of public to bring it in because we have to have safe places where the guns can be lodged,” Ramjattan is quoted as saying.
President David Granger has indicated that in addition to getting illegal guns off the streets, authorities were working on stopping them from reaching the country in the first place.
“No point in having an amnesty and the weapons continue to come,” he said.