Gun Amnesty To Begin on Monday

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.