A gun amnesty program will begin on April 7, 2025, allowing individuals to surrender illegal weapons without facing prosecution.
The initiative will run until April 30, with the police designated as the receiving authority for all surrendered weapons.
“Within the past three weeks or so, the police have confiscated unlawful guns from a number of persons who have been brought before the magistrate’s court. Those persons get as many as two years in jail for being in possession of unlawful guns. We want those unlawful guns off the streets of Antigua and Barbuda,” said Cabinet Spokesperson Lionel Hurst during Thursday’s post-Cabinet press briefing.
Hurst explained that this approach has been tried previously with some success: “We are trying yet another amnesty. We have done this maybe three or four times during the 10-year term of the Gaston Browne administration, and each time it yields a few guns.”
The government hopes the program will discourage gun smuggling and encourage those who possess illegal firearms to surrender them. “We are hopeful that those who are engaged in smuggling guns into Antigua and Barbuda will cease and desist from doing so,” Hurst stated.
The Cabinet spokesperson emphasized the legal consequences individuals face if caught with illegal weapons: “Those who have purchased them and who now know that a two-year jail sentence lies in their future if caught, we would prefer them to just surrender those guns.”
Hurst detailed the surrender process: “And that can be done by placing them at the desk at the police headquarters. And that begins on Monday and will run through the 30th of April.”
The primary goal of the three-week program is to reduce gun violence by removing illegal firearms from circulation and keeping them out of criminal hands.
Great start government. The government is giving the courtesy and free will to those who have in their possession illegal firearms and ammunition to just turn them in.
If you think about it, this might be the closest thing to a pardon you’d ever get so use the opportunity to.
Save yourself the trouble and think of your family. And remember family don’t mean anything if you done dead.
You really think they are going to turn in illegal firearms at the police stations? And then what are they going to use to rob people because they are not going to stop . Wheel and come again
… and then again remember the police going see who brings them in
I really don’t think this gun amnesty will actually take the guns off the street. They are like people’s pet now.
Well need to get it done one way.