Government Senator Dr Saphire Longmore is appealing to females to encourage their male counterparts to surrender illegal guns and ammunition during the two-week gun amnesty which began on November 5.

“I encourage, especially the women folk who might be aware of persons who have illegal guns. I speak to the mothers, the sisters, the girlfriends, the side-chicks, everybody who knows that there are persons who are harbouring these instruments. Encourage them to go and turn these weapons in – save some lives,” she said.

Longmore was contributing to the debate on the legislation which gives effect to the amnesty – the Firearms (Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation) (Firearms Amnesty) Order, 2022, during the Senate’s sitting on Friday.

The order was moved by minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation Matthew Samuda. The senators okayed the order, which was previously approved in the House of Representatives on November 1.

Longmore said several methods can be used to surrender firearms or ammunition, noting that individuals can even call ahead to facilitate the surrender at 811; (876) 838-3084; or (876) 968-9533.

According to the order, the weapons or ammunition can be handed over to a subofficer or senior subofficer on duty at any police station; any designated officer at a Firearms Licensing Authority (FLA) location; or to an attorney-at-law, on behalf of an individual seeking the amnesty, for delivery to the nearest police station.

“I encourage Jamaicans to take advantage of this opportunity to turn over these weapons to try and start a new phase in your own lives as we seek to bring a new phase for Jamaica,” she said.

In the meantime, Samuda also urged people in possession of illegal firearms or ammunition to make full use of the amnesty “because when it expires on November 19, 2022 those who refuse to surrender their firearms and ammunition, once convicted, will face stiff penalties”.

Breaches of the new Firearms (Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation) Act, 2022 will result in penalties ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment.

Samuda further noted that the aim of the measure is not to reveal the identities of the people who comply with the amnesty. The amnesty is also intended to provide an opportunity for licence holders who are in possession of expired authorisations to surrender their weapons to the authority, he said.

He stressed that the amnesty gives the Government “a fresh start in the war against illegal firearms”, noting that for the last 25 years Jamaica recorded, on average, 1,270 murders annually, the vast majority being committed with illegal firearms.

At the same time, Opposition senators welcomed the amnesty, with Lambert Brown stating that he hopes it will lead to an increase in the recovery rate for illegal weapons and ammunition.

“I wish the amnesty success…I want it to work,” he said, but pointed to the absence of public education leading up to the amnesty, noting that, in this regard, “the Government has failed to lay the wicket and to prepare the country for this [exercise]”.

Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate Peter Bunting suggested that the FLA “do some active public education, reaching out to persons, hopefully, to get them to comply”.

” [Also], to use the opportunity, the short window of the amnesty, to comply to put their firearms registration and their licences in order so that they will not be subject to a fine of up to $3 million. We don’t want to criminalise persons whose behaviour is tardy but not really a threat to society,” he said.

The amnesty is slated to end at midnight on Saturday, November 19.