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Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar - Photo by Faith AyoungPRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is confident stand-your-ground legislation will be passed in the Senate on December 2 and legislation to allow citizens to access legally issued firearms easily is coming.
She made these comments after a laptop distribution ceremony at the Penal Secondary School on November 28
Persad-Bissessar was pleased the Home Invasion (Self-Defence and Defence of Property) Bill, 2025 was passed in the House of Representatives on November 26 by vote of 26-10.
"Promise made. Promise kept. So it goes to the Senate now. We may do that next week Tuesday (December 2)."
The Opposition PNM did not support the bill's passage in the House.
Persad-Bissessar was not worried about the bill not being passed in the Senate.
"I am not worried. God is great."
She said, "We got the support in the House. I look forward to support in the Senate."
Persad-Bissessar repeated, "It is a good piece of law for protection for citizens."
The bill requires a three-fifths majority for passage in the House and Senate.
This equates to 25 votes in the former and 19 in the latter. The UNC has 26 MPs in the House to the PNM's 13 and the TPP's two.
With only 15 members in the Senate, government is four short of the votes needed to pass the bill,
This means it must get these votes from either the six opposition senators or the nine independent senators.
The objective of the legislation is to establish the offence of home invasion and provide that a person has no duty to retreat when acting in self-defence or defence of his property.
But the bill does not does not give people free license to kill anyone who enters their property
They include home-owners being under the influence of drugs when they threaten or use force against an intruder and home-owners threaten
Asked if government will be bringing legislation to Parliament to make access to legally issued firearms, Persad-Bissessar said, "Yes that will come soon. The draft is being worked on." Persad-Bissessar hinted it could be laid in Parliament before December 31.
She added government has other pieces of legislation that will be coming to Parliament.
Stand-your-ground and firearms legislation were two of the UNC's main anti-crime promises in its campaign for the April 28 general election.
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