Gang and Guns Court Aimed at Tackling Firearms Crisis

With a prevalence of gangs on the streets in Belize City and with them popping up in other areas across the country, the imminent Gang and Guns Court is expected to prove fruitful.  Minister Musa spoke on the caliber of weapons coming into the country and the need to increase the penalties.

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs: “The gang legislation that we have in place. It is very strong, you know. To be a member of a gang and to be proven guilty or if you plead guilty what the law provides is that you are sentenced to 10 years in jail. Now ask me when last that has been done. When last has a magistrate imposed that sentence on any gang member? I don’t think it has ever been done. What you find coming out of the magistrate’s court is when they are found guilty a fine of $1,000 or $2,000. We believe that a specialized gang court is essential and even more so a specialized gun court. We currently have approximately 150 outstanding cases of possession of illegal firearm. That’s a lot of cases that are just sitting there, a huge backlog and so there needs to be a specialized court because we recognize the urgency of this situation because our borders are extremely porous. Guns are coming across and it’s not just  9mm and  .38’s anymore. We’re talking AR rifles, .223 rifles, very big guns that are coming in. We recognize as a government that we need to address this urgently and not just address it in a way of creating a court, but increasing the penalty for illegal possession of firearm because a lot of these young men say “I’ll plead guilty to that, only will give me two years in jail.” They look at that as just spending a little two years. This penalty has to be a lot higher, 10 to 15 years in the first instance, 20 to 25 years in the second instance. We need to treat gun laws with the urgency that it deserves.”

The Gang and Guns court is expected to roll out in the fourth quarter of this year.