Don’t interfere with the FLA’S decision

Dear Editor,

I have read the Jamaica Observer editorial for September 29, 2020 and I find it shocking that the writer does not seem to understand how Jamaicans, especially the police, operate.

The police federation and others can say all they want about gunmen and the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA); however, the reality is that a police carrying a Governmentissued firearm for his/her work is a totally different kind of animal than the same police officer with his/her privately own firearm.

In the case of the issued firearms for work, they have no choice but to be accountable for it and its use; however, not as much with a private firearm. All he /she has to do is to say it was self-defence and a dead man tells no tales.

I believe that the FLA’S panel of adjudicators has its reasons for refusing some police officers licences for private firearms. There has been abuse before, and so not because one is a cop he/ she should automatically be afforded a private licence for a firearm.

If we believe in the rule of law then we should accept the FLA’S reasoning as to why certain officers are refused private firearms licences. What this means to me is that the system is working, and there is no need for the intervention of the minister or the director of the FLA. To me, having such intervention amounts to corruption in my book. We must let the process take its course.

Such ‘intervention’ has, in part, led us to the gun problem we are having in the country. Too many people in authority have given ‘back door blys’ to people.