Final tally: 184 guns destroyed
The Cash for Guns programme and its accompanying amnesty are now history. Whether it will be successful in curbing violent crime may never be known, but what is certain, is that the arsenal of illegal guns available for use by criminals has been significantly reduced.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
A total of 184 guns plus a quantity of ammunition were destroyed this afternoon. The collection is the result of the 2-week Cash For Guns programme that was launched on August 20th. Lascelle Arnold, the project’s chairman says the effort was successful.
Lascelle Arnold, Chairman, Cash For Guns
“If you look at the amount of handguns we collected this time, compared to the last time, we collected less guns, but you will notice that we have more effective guns, more 38’s, more 357’s, more 45’s, more 380’s. We have more machine guns, compared to the last time, when we had a lot more pen guns, a lot more rifles. Now you will notice that there’s a lot of hand guns used for crime in Belize.”
While most of the weapons were turned in to the receiving centre others were collected through the assistance of youths who went into specific neighbourhoods and encouraged people to take advantage of the programme. The effort was also supported by the business community and concerned citizens who donated over $28,000 towards the cause.
Lascelle Arnold
“We’ll have follow up programmes, but not concerning guns. Concerning rehabilitation, reeducation of the young people on the streets, jobs, sports and that sort of thing. The minister will be coming down hard on crime this time, so this was an opportunity for the people who had guns in their possession to bring it in, so that when the police step up the raids, most of these guns will not end up with the police, and people wouldn’t go into jail.”
Following the destruction of the weapons and ammunition, the remains were taken to an undisclosed location for disposal. Now that the programme and the amnesty period have come to a close, anyone who is found in possession of an illegal firearm will be dealt with as severely as the law allows.
A less flamboyant but perhaps more important aspect of the programme is that organisers stressed the urgent need for the community and government to address the root socio-economic causes of crime. The project’s final report recommends that a serious effort be made to provide jobs and counseling to targeted youths as well as grass roots based mechanisms for conflict resolution to reduce the level of senseless violence.
