New gun law steered through after many changes

(CNS): Parliament has passed new firearms legislation that government hopes will address the problem of gun crime across the Cayman Islands. The amendments, which include harsher penalties for illegal possession and changes relating to technology such as 3-D printed weapons, have been in the works for some time. While the legislation has been under consultation for several weeks, MPs still made numerous and significant changes to the legislation at the committee stage on Tuesday, in some cases having to amend the draft bill several times.

One change was made during the sitting of the bills committee after Speaker Alden McLaughlin described the provision as “madness”. The law as drafted would have required licensed firearms holders to surrender their guns to the police if they left the Cayman Islands for two nights or more.

McLaughlin pointed out that the RCIPS does not have the capacity to handle such a process. He also pointed out that, given the strict safety and security measures required by owners for storing guns in order to secure a licence in the first place, it was “utter madness” to take a secured weapon from a safe and hand it to police, where it would be less secure and subject to a bureaucratic process that could open the door for a catalogue of errors.

As a result, the law was re-written by the attorney general to increase the time that an owner would be overseas to 21 days before being required to give their firearm to the police.

The Fire Arms Amendment Bill (2024) was also reworded to address the potential criminalisation of 3-D printers, as the original draft bill had been written in such a way that instead of targeting software programmes that can produce lethal firearms, it could have seen the machines themselves outlawed here.

The bill was eventually re-written and passed unanimously, introducing an even harsher mandatory minimum sentence of fifteen years for possession of an unlicensed gun following conviction after trial or ten years on an admission.

Mandatory minimum sentences severely restrict the ability of the court to look at the individual circumstances of the offenders involved as well as how they became in possession of an illegal gun. The law does not reflect the clear difference between a person with a criminal record who acquires a gun in order to kill or injure a gang rival or to hold up a gas station and an individual with no criminal history who comes across a gun unintentionally and through a lapse of judgement fails to hand it.

There have been dozens of cases since the mandatory minimum sentence of ten years after trial or seven years following a guilty plea was introduced in Cayman more than a decade ago where the offender has no previous convictions, the gun has not been used in a crime, sometimes having never been fired at all, and there has appeared to be no intent for the person in illegal possession to commit an offence with it.

In some cases those who have risked a trial have been acquitted. Others who have made admissions and argued exceptional circumstances have been given lower sentences, especially where they have assisted police with other crimes. But most have not and have been given the minimum terms.

Handing down harsh sentences does not appear to have been a successful deterrent as gun crime has increased. During the debate, former premier Wayne Panton was the only member who said that while he accepted there was support for an increase in the minimum sentence, it would not be the solution to the problem of gun crime.

However, once the bill is implemented, merely holding a gun for a brief period will land someone convicted of illegal possession a minimum of 15 years in jail after trial unless there are exceptional circumstances. But this is a very high bar that has only been reached on a handful of occasions.

Lawmakers also passed the long-awaited, detailed and modernised Pharmacy Act. The bill introduces a new regulatory framework, sets clear definitions for medicines, outlines licensing requirements, and enhances public health and safety by regulating the import, manufacture and dispensing of medicines more effectively.

The Perpetuities (Amendment) Bill, 2024 was also passed without debate. This is to remove an old rule against perpetuities relating to trusts for all future property trusts, as requested by the offshore sector. Parliament also passed the Summary Jurisdiction (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which will enable all elected members of parliament to become justices of the peace and offer most of the associated services to their constituents, increasing access to things like notary services for the public, free of charge.

Watch the debate on the firearms law on CIGTV: