WESTERN BUREAU – Members of the clergy in St James have thrown their support behind the call for a gun amnesty to help stem gun-related crimes in the parish.

The call for the amnesty was made recently by Clive Mullings, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Member of Parliament for West Central St James and shadow minister of national security. Churches, Mullings said, could play a major role in such an initiative as they are the most trusted entities in the eyes of the public.

Support for the MP’s call has come from the Anglican, Baptist, United and Wesleyan churches in the parish.

Monsignor Herbert Panton, pastor for the Sacred Heart Church at Reading in Montego Bay, is among those who have agreed with the suggestion. According to the Monsignor, with the continued rise in gun crimes in the resort town and in the parish as a whole, the call for an amnesty was welcomed.

“I would support getting the guns out of the wrong hands, even though we do not know how many guns there are, or what calibre of weapons,” he said.

He added that it was especially important to get the guns out of the hands of the young, whom he described as having no real values and take pleasure in snuffing out the lives of others.

Bernard Scarlett, head of the Northern Wesleyan District of Churches, also supported the call but he has some reservations. According to Scarlett, the gun has become a protector and a meal ticket for some young people because there is a loss of confidence in the security forces, and the diminishing of economic opportunities open to them.

Meanwhile, the Baptist circuit in St James has voiced its own support for the call.

“It is a good move. It would get the guns off the street and make the society a better place,” said Joseph Anderson, moderator of the parish’s Baptist Union, adding that his ministry would be willing to make an input.

“We could try and appeal to people of the community or family members who may know members that have guns to turn them in. We could also accompany gunmen to (police) stations to hand over the guns,” he said.

Anthony Chung, a minister in the United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, said the amnesty would be a move in the right direction.

“I think we have reached the stage that anything that can help (to alleviate the gun crimes); all of us should support it,” he said. “I think (government) should allow it – not indefinitely but for a month or two… Bring in the guns, no penalty… Then those who refused (to bring in their guns) would have to live with the consequences if they are caught.”