Cash for Guns date announced
Six years ago the Cash for Guns Programme brought in close to three hundred weapons. Since then crime has not gone down, but has escalated. Today a similar exercise will soon be launched to try and rid the streets of guns and eliminate crime.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Get guns off the street and out of the hands of criminals is the main objective of the Cash For Guns Programme. The drive, which is mainly a community based initiative supported by the private sector and the government of Belize will run from Monday August twenty-eight to Saturday September ninth. The programme is similar to one launched in 1994, except that this time the commission has increased the payments to bring in more guns.
Nuri Muhammed, Coordinator, Cash For Guns
“The idea behind this is to make it attractive, so that the youths want to turn the weapons in. We are getting good indications. We have already been working with a number of youths in the different parts of the city. The indications are that many of them are ready to take advantage of this programme.”
Lascelle Arnold, who chairs of the commission, and spearheaded the 1994 effort, admits that they do not expect the drive to solve all the crime problems, but as a society we cannot turn a blind eye and do nothing. The guns will be collected at the new Carter’s Upholstery Factory at the corner of Cemetery Road and Elston Carr Street. The centre will be opened from six in the morning till six the evening and the handing over process should take no more than five minutes.
Nuri Muhammed
“The centre will basically be manned by those who are here and others. There will be no police involvement. The youths will be encouraged to come in and to bring their weapons. The weapons will be immediately dismantled. We will not destroy them there, but will collect the weapons and have a destruction of the weapons at the end of the programme. They will be dismantled, that means that once we receive the weapons, the weapons will be dismantled to that they cannot be used again.”
The guns will be destroyed at the end of the programme. The commission says people have no reason to fear, as there will be no police presence at the centre nor will persons be asked their names or be questioned. As soon as a weapon is collected payment will be made. How much a person receives, however, will depend on the caliber and condition of the weapon.
Persons turning in a .357 magnum can be paid as much as six hundred dollars. A .385 snug nose revolver, up to four hundred dollars, a .22 rakes in about two hundred, with the nine millimetre about five hundred dollars. A .380 has a ceiling price of about three hundred dollars, while a .25 can get you up to two hundred and fifty dollars. You can get about four hundred and twenty five dollars for a .45. A .32 is up to three hundred and fifty dollars. Machine guns can bring in a whopping one thousand dollars. Payment for pen guns and manufactured weapons is negotiable.
The Ministry of National Security has also declared an amnesty that will run for the duration of the programme. The amnesty will not cover those persons caught perpetrating a crime or weapons found hidden. Following the amnesty, the police will come down heavy on those persons who are caught with illegal weapons. The commission agreed that there needs to be some continuity in order to address the growing problem of crime. In 1991, the Crimes Commission was instructed to compile a comprehensive report on crime. A number of recommendations were made, but to date none has been implemented.
Nuri Muhammed
“If you look at the Crimes Commission report of 1991, there were a list of very good recommendations that had they been followed from ’91, we would have not gotten rid of crime, but we perhaps would have had certain structures in place so that we wouldn’t have as seemingly out of control situation that seems to be affecting us today.”
If you would like to financially contribute to the cash for Guns Programme, you can get in touch with the Belize Chamber of Commerce at telephone number 73148.
