Opposition spokesman on national security Peter Bunting wants law-abiding Jamaicans to have easier access to owning firearms.

Against the background of riveting crime, Bunting, who served as minister of national security between 2012 and 2016, was speaking to the Jamaica Observer about the right for more of this island’s citizens to be able to protect themselves in a climate that has cast a pall of gloom on the nation of 2.8 million inhabitants.

The businessman and engineer by profession urged the Firearm Licensing Authority to look deeper in assessing the situation in respect of who qualifies for firearms to defend themselves.

“My approach when I was minister was that there should be no discrimination. Once you establish a set of criteria — the person must be fit and proper; the person must be competent; the person must have nothing negative in the background checks in terms of their character, mental health, their temperament — then once you qualify you should have a right just like everyone else. That has not continued under this Administration,” he said of the Government.

“The truth of the matter is, by choking the issuing of licences, you encourage corruption,” stated Bunting, now leader of Opposition business in Jamaica’s Senate, also called the Upper House.

“When we [last People’s National Party Administration] issued more licences, there was no increase in crime by licensed firearm holders; there was no increase in theft of firearms from licensed holders, because we had a proper training and vetting system in place. And until the State can guarantee people’s safety, then people should have an alternative to provide for their own safety.

Bunting was responding to the imposition of a State of Emergency by the Government last Sunday, that is confined to seven police divisions. He repeated, too, that other measures, aside from the granting of gun licences, could also be effective in the fight against crime that has earned Jamaica the reputation of one of the most murderous countries in the western hemisphere.

“The [PNP] leader (Mark Golding) has gone a step further,” Bunting said. “He has brought a private member’s Bill to Parliament, for example, to allow persons who might not want to go to the extent of a firearm, but at least to be able to, legally, and with some amount of certainty, procure pepper spray for their own protection.

“Many persons, ladies in particular, like to carry a pepper spray dispenser in their handbags or on their person somehow, which can provide an immediate deterrent if they are being physically assaulted. That’s an intermediate step. Not everyone wants to have that headache of wanting to walk around with a gun, so these are interim measures that can be very helpful and assist in personal protection. Women in particular, I think, would welcome that as a clearly legal alternative. Right now it’s in a sort of grey area. We see people with pepper spray canisters but it’s not very clear whether they are operating legally or not,” Bunting said.