MANDEVILLE, Manchester — One of Jamaica’s top attorneys, John Junor, has strongly criticised what he calls a “tyranny of bureaucracy” in Jamaica and accused the leadership of the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) of using innuendo to soil the name of reputable citizens.

“I am here really in response to… a perception… that I have formed of what I call the tyranny of the bureaucracy in our country; that citizens and their rights are treated with impunity; that persons’ characters can be besmirched by innuendo and I am very concerned in particular with the behaviour of the Firearm Licensing Authority,” Junor told the Lay Magistrates’ Association of Jamaica Manchester Chapter last Wednesday.

“The last guest speaker you had, I happened to have seen the news clips, and was alarmed at the misinformation that was presented and thought that in the interest of justice, since we are justices of the peace, that the full story should be told,” Junor said.

His reference was to an address to the association made just over a month earlier by FLA Chief Executive Officer Shane Dalling, who said that an abnormally high usage of ammunition by licensed gun holders in Manchester and irregularities relating to firearm licences had triggered investigations by the FLA.

Dalling said then that the FLA was alarmed by “applications for over 100,000 rounds of ammunition by less than 10 persons”, among other irregularities. The FLA head appeared to suggest that one licensed firearm holder in Manchester had used up 12,000 rounds of ammunition in one month.

Last Wednesday, Junor, a former Member of Parliament for Manchester Central and former Cabinet minister in the P J Patterson-led People’s National Party (PNP) Government, said he was moved to respond because of what he considered injustice to upstanding citizens, including clients of his.

Junor declared early in his presentation that the individuals he deemed were besmirched are his clients. They are the owner of the Manchester Rifle and Pistol Club and Central Dealers (a gun and ammunition business), and the operator of a machine shop in the parish.

He said that the Pistol Club was an approved firearm range up until recently, before the investigation came about, where members were privy to attend a number of shooting competitions, including to ranges overseas, in particular the United States.

“It is a world-class range facility, right here in Lincoln (in the Hatfield area of Manchester). It regularly conducted tutelage of persons who were applying for firearms and who had to do competency tests and re-certification of persons who were existing firearm holders,” said Junor.

He said that the operator has the requisite skills and qualification to offer such service.

Junor said that the owner of the range and dealership in Manchester takes the sport extremely seriously, has always been in good standing with the FLA and makes significant investment in his business.

“In pursuance of the club’s objective to become a major player in the sport here, and this is a sport that is growing in Jamaica and internationally and in keeping with the policies of the FLA and following on a meeting (with firearm dealers) with the then chairman who is now the commissioner of police, Major General [Antony] Anderson, competitive shooters were encouraged to apply for rounds needed to ensure proficiency in their sport,” he said.

“On the fifth of January 2018, under the coverage of an e-mail and I have the documentation here should anyone wish to see it the Manchester Rifle and Pistol Club alerted the FLA on the intent of members to apply for ammunition to train for the 2018 Florida Open to take place in Frostproof, Florida, on Thursday, February 15 to Sunday, February 18. The application was actually made on the seventh of January and it was made on the required request for additional ammunition purchase forms for 12,000 .4 rounds each to assist in training. There were six such members who applied. The FLA, on the tenth of January, approved the rounds for training. I might repeat that the FLA approved 12,000 rounds [each] for six members,” said Junor.

He said that an expiration date is stamped on the form for when the amount of rounds should be purchased but it does not say when it should be used.

He said that the decision to apply for the specific number of rounds was informed by the fact that there were several other local and international tournaments in which the members were engaged in short order, including the Jamaica Invitational Pistol Tournament in the first week of April; the Area Six Championship in Okeechobee, Florida, on the second weekend of April; and the Pan American Handgun Sporting Competition, which is to be held here in Jamaica for the first time, in the third week of July.

Junor said that the number of rounds would be used based on what is estimated would be needed each time because, based on the requirements that govern firearm holders, they are not allowed to leave with ammunition purchased at the range.

“So even though you have 12,000 rounds, if you only use in a practice session, and you don’t necessarily take the whole 12,000 rounds, you take it based on what you estimate you will use. If you say you will use 500 and you only use 3(00), 200 rounds have to remain at the range in the custody of the range operator,” he explained.

It is not usual, he said, for competitive shooters to have more than one firearm, which means that they would need a certain number of rounds to prepare and perform. The owner and other professional competitors of the club, he said, are allowed to take their firearms when they compete internationally.

“I have the proof of FLA-approved purchases by other dealerships across the island to purchase ammunition and indeed firearms from [the owner]. The fact that a number of people come to Manchester is only evidence of the acuity of [the owner’s] business sense,” said the attorney.

The owner of the machine shop, where a machine with capabilities to make gun parts was allegedly found, has been doing business in Manchester for years and now his operation is in disrepute, Junor said, noting that he was one of the applicants for rounds to compete.

“Any machine shop in Jamaica can make a part for a gun. [The owner] makes parts for the bauxite companies, for the sugar companies, for heavy duty operators,” said Junor, indicating that his client bought the machine in anticipation of the reopening of the Alpart alumina plant.

“A part of that whole ensemble requires a licence from the manufacturer because part of the brochure, and he showed them (FLA) the brochure, made the point that the machine has to be registered… because they don’t want it involved in [the] making of nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction, etc, etc. There are about seven of those machines across the island, by the way. They were brought in through Customs legally and my client has every documentation to prove that,” he said.

Now, with the investigation, said Junor, the Ministry of National Security is preventing his client from using the machine.

“[The owner] received a letter that says he can’t use his machine until the Ministry of National Security approves it. This is what I call tyranny of the bureaucracy. This is a decision taken by one person or a board in contravention of everything else, which has allowed this gentleman to bring in his machine to be able to operate his business,” said Junor.

He asserted that the reputations of his clients are now irreparably damaged, without evidence of corruption on their part, and the businesses that they operate, from which they earn a living, and those of the workers they employ, are now affected.

“I am a little worried that this is a modus operandi creeping in where when you want to do something you create a scandal, and then you use that as the excuse to do it,” Junior said. “There is an investigation, but you don’t destroy someone’s business. I can tell you that at this point in time the membership of the Manchester Rifle and Pistol Club, which is supposed to be renewed on an annual basis and comes up now, very few people have renewed. This is a sensitive area. You have a right to conduct an investigation, but you do not have a right to allegations made in the public space before you come to a conclusion about those investigations.”

There was speculation by some justices of the peace at the meeting that the investigation may have started because “somebody is out to get somebody” and is aimed at a part-owner in the range and a gun dealership.

Junor said that there is no part-owner in the business and that he was aware of the rumours but was not getting into the “politics”.

Wendy Freckleton, a justice of the peace, Mandeville “A” zone coordinator for the Lay Magistrates Manchester Chapter and a former president of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said some residents may fear that guns and ammunition were getting into the hands of the wrong people.

Junor said he was not aware of any such allegations in relation to the specific Manchester investigation, and the prevalence of guns in Jamaica is owing to the fact that the borders are porous and they can come in illegally, as acknowledged by the police.