Should the government make it less onerous for private citizens to license firearms for their own self defense?
At the last sitting of the House of Representatives, the government proposed a Criminal Code and Firearms Bill which seeks to impose stiffer penalties for unlicensed firearms as a measure to combat the crime situation. According to one attorney, the legislation is sweeping and would allow for the arrest of all persons in the employ of the business establishments where an unlicensed firearm is found. This week’s question is proposed by one of our viewers, Israel Moran, who looks at the other side of the coin; the personal security of private citizens who often face the brazenness of criminals. The question is: Should the government make it less onerous for private citizens to license firearms for their own self defense? Send your comments and responses using your SMART phones to 8686 or post your vote on our e-poll at channel5belize.com. You can also send an email with your comments to questions@channel5belize.com.
…The Wild,Wild West…or Gunfight at the O.K. Corral…this list goes on and on. People would be walking around like Western Gun Slingers with the possibility of more deaths at the hands of their own guns. Good thought but it could also have more innocent lives lost.
Carry a gun – expect to be killed by a gun. Carry a knife – expect to be stabbed. I am not a Guatemalan and dont want Belize to become Guatemala. You can keep your guns, inshallah, Allah protects me, subhanallah.
STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT ……. MORE LEGAL GUNS = LESS CRIME.
Yeah, and the corrupt system will make it easier for the worng people to aquire more guns. Its already easy.. Go ahead and make it less onerous.
Don’t get me wrong, I do believe it would be better for the ‘right’ people to get gun licenses, but it’s not as easy as just allowing easier paperwork.. proper control must be established. Special note on the use of the word proper!
LG
http://twitter.com/lrnzG
Maybe the GOB need to do background check on anyone that wants to own a gun.In addition they need to ensure that anyone with a criminal record is not given license to own a firearm.
Its should be thE RIGHT of every belizean citizen to own a firearm,take for example here in the USA-the constitution gives the american citizen to OWN–CARRY a fire arm.but of course not in belize-the mafia in power(udp&pup)knows that armed citizens keep a crook government in check.in the belize only the rich-the thieves are armed.
If I diden’t know that ever house in Switzerland has some sorth of Fire Arm I would think that its ludicrous to toy with the idea that every citizen to have a Fire Arm, however we have to take into consideration the mentality of the citizens. Given the very low crime rate in Switzerland its hard to emagin this fact. But for Belize? This is dam if do dam if you don’t situation as far as Belize is consern. Those that want a gun don’t seem to have any problem getting one. Perhaps if the criminal minded person know that he/she will be meet with equal or greater fire power they would think long and hard to carry out the the kind of gun violence that is common in the country, especially Belize city.
Let’s not forget that its constitutional an American has the right to own gun, but does it make it any safer? There are all kind of arguments of the pro and cons of this matter in the USA. Not too long ago the US Supreme Court had to hand down a ruling on the side of the gun owner, as owerniship of guns were heavily contested by those who thought that there are too many gun violence in there country. When we put all the emotion aside, we must come to the conclusion that there is no simple answer to this situatiion. Since the gun violence is carried out mostly by young punks, what might help the situation could be a four years compulsary induction into the some kind of military service. Again, Switzerland, every male must surve in the military up to a certain age, even if only part time, no matter what that person social status migh be.
the criminals have all the weapons so why shouldn’t the law abiding citizen of this nation be able to defend their lives, families and property with legal firearms. a thorough background check should be made of each and every individual seeking a gun license and the existing licenses should be upgraded to be a laminated card WITH photo i.d instead of the piece of paper now issued. it’s not hard to regulate and keeps check on the LEGAL firearms in this country its the illegal criminal ones that are the problem.
Background check plus certfication in opreration and knowledge of legal parameters for use of lethal force. Switzerland is not better than Belize, they have just been educated right longer.
We are on our way on that road, but need to keep pressing on quite a bit more. Let’s keep learning.