NATIONAL Security Minister Dr Peter Phillips yesterday pledged to use a new firearms agency being set up by government to ensure that only responsible individuals are granted licensed firearms in the future.

The minister was speaking at the funeral service for 22-year-old Charraine Brown, who was killed by a stray bullet along Chisholm Avenue last month, after an enraged motorist allegedly tried to shoot at a man of unsound mind.
Yesterday, Phillips told those who had gathered to celebrate Brown's life that it was necessary to prevent firearm licences from being given to reckless individuals.

"[We have] to make sure that weapons don't fall into the hands of the careless and of the foolish. And if I have anything to do with it, it is my intention that the new agency that has been set up to deal with firearms will make certain that only well-thinking, responsible, careful people obtain weapons," he told the congregation.

Sitting in the front pew of the church, in front of her daughter's white casket, which was trimmed in pink and draped with colourful flowers, Brown's mother, Karlene Reid, had obviously still not come to terms with her daughter's death. On two occasions, she had to be escorted out of the church hall to regain her composure. And briefly during a tribute from persons from the Portmore Community College, which Brown attended after leaving Holy Childhood High School, Reid began to shriek uncontrollably and had to be restrained by family members.

During the service, Brown was also remembered by five friends - who met her at the University of Technology (UTech) where she had recently completed studies in Business Education and was scheduled to graduate later this year - as a very caring yet driven and ambitious woman.

"Without a doubt, if it was any one of us where she is now she would be up here giving a tribute. [Being with her] became like being with a long lost friend. No doubt, she would have become a woman of stature because of her determination to succeed. She died beloved by all," one of the five said.
Brown was also remembered by four of her colleagues at the Taxpayer Registration Centre as someone who enjoyed being complimented. She had worked there for the past three summers.

"She was always saying, 'I look nice today, don't?' or 'How long you going to take to tell me I look nice?' or, 'Smell me, I smell nice today, don't,'? And when you did as she asked, she would answer, 'I know,' to you," one of the four women said, adding that Brown always spoke highly of her mother and grandparents, who she grew up with.

Responding to the tributes on behalf of the family, Brown's cousin, Michael Reid, urged the congregation to ensure that his cousin's death helped to spur a new consciousness among Jamaican people.
He told the gathering that his cousin "belonged to that emerging class of liberated women. She knew exactly what she wanted, and which route to get there."

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