NOW could be the right time for a gun amnesty, Constables have said, as they have reacted to a government decision to shelve an update of the Island’s decades-old firearms law.
Home Affairs Minister Mary Le Hegarat recently revealed to a Scrutiny panel that a “revision or replacement” of the current Firearms Law 2000 was “not currently under development”.
This came despite former Home Affairs Minister Helen Miles having pledged to complete the review during 2024, and despite Deputy Le Hegarat stating in her January nomination speech that she believed the regulations “needed to be looked at”.
St Martin Constable Karen Shenton-Stone (pictured) was among several parish heads who were advocating a tightening of the legislation “for the safety of the Island” and who supported Deputy Miles’s choice to prioritise the work.
Speaking to the JEP, she said: “I am disappointed to hear that the review is now not being undertaken. Some of the Constables, who are in charge of interviewing and granting firearms licences, believe the law still needs to be tightened.
“We should be charging more for the certificates, as a starting point, because the costs of administering them, and the time and effort we put into granting them, are far above the current cost.”
It costs £45 to obtain a new certificate or renew an existing one and the licences need to be renewed every five years.
Mrs Shenton-Stone added: “The minister’s decision should have been clearly communicated to States Members, especially the Constables.
“With the world as it is at the moment, we are having to keep very close tabs on everyone who applies for a licence. I know the majority of licence-holders are very responsible and we do have all the safeguards in place, including GP references, but there is a huge amount of guns in this Island.
“I think an amnesty would be a really good thing to have, because there are incidences where people inherit weapons and forget to put them on their licence.”
The last gun amnesty in Jersey took place more than a decade ago.
Last March, an amnesty in Alderney resulted in a sizeable haul of weapons – including shotguns, handguns and rifles along with spearguns, an assortment of knives, a decorative sword, 200 crossbow bolts and a medieval flail – being handed over to the Island’s police force.
An amnesty provides the opportunity for anyone to safely hand over unwanted weapons without being referred for prosecution for unlawful possession of illegal items.
Comité des Connétables chair and Constable of St Brelade Mike Jackson also said he would be “happy to discuss” an amnesty and that it “wouldn’t be difficult to arrange”.
He added: “I don’t think there’s anything like the numbers hidden away here that there used to be.”
However, he was not concerned about Deputy Le Hegarat’s decision to table the review, saying: “I think our system is quite good and it’s better than other jurisdictions. The Island is local enough to know most of the people who have firearms certificates and we do all the necessary interviews and background checks. I am not personally dissatisfied with the system.
“I can empathise with the Home Affairs Minister. While I agree it’s something to look at, the Island is not crying out for it.”
Mr Jackson said “the highest risk to the Island at the moment” was people “who don’t bother with a firearms certificate at all”.
In her letter to the panel, Deputy Le Hegarat said: “I remain of the view that it would be desirable to undertake work with a view to the revision or replacement of the current Firearms Law, given that it has now been in force for over 20 years.
“However, this legislation is not currently under development as policy development capacity is currently fully committed to a range of activity including improvements to youth justice, hate crime legislation, a new civil contingencies/resilience law and the implementation of the recommendations of the taskforce on violence against women and girls.
“At this stage, I am not able to advise when this work might commence.”
