Garth Rattray IT IS no secret that about this time every year licensed firearms holders must embark on a dangerous, time-consuming four-part pilgrimage. All firearm licence/ permit booklets are synchronised to expire on March 31 annually. Licensees must first trek to the police station where their booklets are to be renewed.
Once there, licensees must join the usual small crowd waiting to have their firearm booklets scrutinised. I know of this, so too do criminals and anyone else who notices the sudden influx of atypical visitors to our police stations. Conspicuous red firearm licence booklets and the occasional firearm that can't be concealed (like shotguns) easily identify them. The serial number of each firearm is transcribed from the booklet onto a small form that empowers the Inland Revenue offices to collect the annual licensing fee of $3,000.00 (up from $1,000.00).
With the exception of SP. Newton Amos' Freeport Police Station, licensees must next take the form to the tax office and join another line. The end of the financial year coincides with the expiratory date for all firearm licences/permits and so these offices are sometimes crowded. The serial number is once again transcribed this time from the small form to the tax receipt.
They must then return to the police station (the same day or soon afterwards) with the red booklet and the receipt to have their unloaded firearm(s) inspected. Here is where the licensed firearm holder is especially exposed to grave danger. Crowded police stations force licensees to park wherever they can. I am reliably informed that as a rule the government does not provide any private, secure area for the unloading and reloading of weapons. The licensees must sometimes unload his/her weapon while in a vehicle (even if it is parked on a public thoroughfare). They also unload out in the open, behind buildings, under trees or in hallways. The vulnerable, licensee must walk unescorted into the police station with
an unloaded weapon. This is a very risky exercise.
Once again the licensee must stand in line for firearm inspection and for the issuing of a temporary permit (with serial numbers transferred for the third time) to be used until the stamped and signed red booklet is ready. Upon leaving, licensees risk observation and expose everyone to danger as they reload their weapon(s) outside the police station. It is common for the licensee to return repeatedly, sometimes for many months, before the booklet is finally ready. To compound matters, after four renewals the booklet expires and a new application must be made. An interview and inspection of where the firearm is secured is conducted before a new permit/licence is granted.
This yearly exercise affects us all because it exposes legal holders of firearm licences/permits to lurking criminals who can mark them at the police stations and tax offices or even trail them home. This may contribute to the fact that between January
1998 - April 2003, 499 legal firearms were stolen (averaging almost 2 per week). Some were undoubtedly used to kill innocent citizens and security officers. What's more, inundated and fatigued firearms clerks sometimes make mistakes when transcribing those thousands of serial numbers repeatedly. If a licensee is stopped at a police checkpoint and a discrepancy discovered, the innocent firearm holder will be arrested and charged with illegal possession of his/her own weapon!
TIME-CONSUMING
This annual practice is extremely time-consuming. Thousands of productive individuals waste incalculable man-hours at police stations and Inland Revenue offices. The entire process can take the better part of two or three days. I hear that no prosecutions have ever come out of this rigorous exercise so why can't a system of random checks suffice? Driver's licence-sized licences/permits should be issued instead of telltale, cumbersome red booklets. A card can be placed in a wallet and even programmed for use as a smart card for acquiring rounds and paying licensing fees.
OVERBURDENED
Every end of March the already beleaguered police are overburdened. It seems almost punitive for decent, honest citizens to imperil themselves and others, lose time, money and suffer so much each and every year while outlaws who possess illegal guns watch and wait for targets of opportunity to present themselves annually.
Too much precious civilian and police man-hours have been wasted; licensees and public safety have been jeopardised enough. There must be other ways for the government to ensure compliance with the firearm laws and to collect taxes without putting so many people at serious risk. It's time that something be done to remedy this untenable situation.
Dr Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.
