‘More females should get gun licences’
Black Queen makes case for women
BLACK Queen believes that the Firearm Licencing Authority (FLA) should make a concerted effort to reach out to qualified and interested females to apply for gun licences, given the surging crime levels in the island.
“Gun licences should be easier for women to access in Jamaica.
The only persons with easy access to guns are criminals,” said Black Queen. “There are so many things happening that lead to the endangerment of women — domestic violence, robberies, home invasions...that’s why women should be trained to defend themselves, especially with the surge in crime in Jamaica.”
Statistics provided by the FLA indicate that in the last five years more than half of women applicants were granted firearm licences.
The FLA maintains that there is no bias against women in the granting of licences, and the entity recently disclosed that 57.5 per cent or 898 of the 1,560 female applicants over the past five years were granted firearm licences.
The entity noted, however, that far more men, 16,997, applied over the same period, with 7,380 receiving permits and 9,617 being denied.
Black Queen believes this disparity must be addressed.
“The FLA should do a special outreach to female business owners to get gun licences and [should] offer seminars and training — even self-defence classes — so that women can know how to navigate, acquire self-control and properly defend themselves,” she proposed.
According to statistics provided by the United Nations, Jamaican women are second on the list of women who are killed every year. Topping the Un-compiled list of “intentional homicides, female” was El Salvador with 13.9 homicides per 100,000 women murdered, while Jamaica had 11 per 100,000 in the year 2017. The Central African Republic was third.
According to FLA Chairman Colonel Audley Carter, what exists is a rigorous, intense and extremely careful system that determines who should be given or denied a gun permit. Colonel Carter said the board which he leads comprises individuals of unquestionable integrity. He also defended the integrity of FLA investigators.
Black Queen, who is known for the song Black and Proud, believes that community policing is the way forward to develop trust and confidence in the police force.
“Only if citizens team up with the police force to get rid of criminals from our communities will we see a change. Women need to be armed, men need to be armed; we need to take back our communities,” she said.