Kingstown – Lawyer Grant Connell says that licensed firearm holders in St. Vincent and the Grenadines are caught in a troubling contradiction between what the law allows and how authorities act when self-defence situations arise.
In an interview with Asberth News Network (ANN), Connell said that firearm holders who go through the legal process and training required to obtain a firearm licence are being placed at a disadvantage when they use their weapon within the confines of the law.
> “Licensed firearm holders are in a quagmire,” Connell told ANN. “They are issued a licence to have a firearm — a weapon designed for one purpose. When applying, they are first trained on a gun range to aim, pull the trigger, fire, and hit with bull’s-eye precision the face and torso of a target representing a human attacker.”
He said the purpose of such training is clear: to enable the firearm holder to protect themselves and their property if faced with a real threat.
> “The government authority issuing the licence does so with the full expectation that the holder may, at some point, have to protect his or her life,” Connell continued. “That means aiming, pulling the trigger, and hitting — hopefully with bull’s-eye precision — a human attacker, all in self-defence. That is precisely why the authority issues the firearm: to wound or end the life of an attacker, quite legally.”
Connell argued that, despite this understanding, licensed firearm holders are often treated as criminals when they act in self-defence.
> “The law is clear on the pre-emptive strike and when it can be taken,” he said. “But when that meets reality in SVG — someone threatens to kill you or attacks you with a knife or bottle, or enters your property in the dark of night — and a licensed holder reacts as trained, within the ambit of the law, they are then treated as if they are the criminal. The police take away the firearm under the excuse that it’s now an exhibit.”
The attorney said such actions contradict the principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty and undermine the very reason the State grants firearm licences in the first place.
> “Removing the firearm from the licensed holder defeats the purpose for which the State deemed them capable of having such a licence,” he said. “The present approach by the authorities actually rebuts common sense — it’s an oxymoron, and moronic.”
Connell also noted the financial aspect of firearm licensing, saying that the government collects significant revenue from firearm licence fees but offers little protection to those who comply with the law.
> “For one thousand licences, the government collects half a million dollars in fees,” he said. “That’s quite a price to pay simply to run the risk of using it and almost defeat the purpose of having it.”
He concluded by saying that the authorities need to clearly decide their policy direction on this issue.
> “The system has to decide what its approach is — the Canadian, the American, or the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago’s approach,” Connell said.
Related Posts
Add A Comment