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2008 Latest News

August 12, 2008

New laws proposed for Antigua

The tiny island of Antigua (280 square kilometres) in the Caribbean is considering changes to its firearms laws, with the Minister for Justice Colin Derrick announcing the intention in a press conference.

Referring to concerns about numbers of dealers in illegal guns, the Minister said the unlawful trade damages the reputation of the country. He also referred to increasing crime involving the use of knives, and spoke about value of the recent improvement in the local police communications methods. According to the Antigua Sun, he went on to say:

"We propose at this point in time to put forward to the Parliament for its consideration the appropriate alternative sentences for judges in which they will have the alternative of either the death penalty, life imprisonment or a minimum sentence of 25 years to any person found in possession of a gun, or using guns, or using knives, which cause serious injury, or likely to cause serious injury or cause death."

www.antiguasun.com

August 4, 2008

Criticism of UN BMS

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has published an article by Paul Holtom critical of the Biennial Meeting of States, saying while "the meeting was a nominal success, few new ideas emerged." The 2006 Review Conference, which did not produce any mandate for further review of or guidance for the Programme of Action (POA) for the Small Arms and Light Weapons process, is described also as having been a disappointment.

UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, opened the BMS and said that by being at the meeting, members of the UN were demonstrating their solidarity with the POA. The article, however, suggests that there has been "a lack of good guidance" on means to implement the Programme of Action.

This, the third BMS, consequently spent more time on subjects related to practicalities of data sharing and regional cooperation. The UN Office for Disarmament Affairs has also launched the POA-Implementation Support System which welcomes interaction among not only governments but with non-governmental organizations.

The article (www.sipri.org ) contains the by-now quite common implied criticism of the USA, which took a stand on certain issues in the 2006 Review Conference. In particular, the USA has been and remains sensitive to restrictions which might hinder the right to lawful civilian firearm ownership, even though it has put considerable resources into destruction of arms stockpiles and other specifically directed measures in regions where assistance has been required. The article describes this reluctance not as objection to restrictions on lawful ownership by civilians, but as objection to "controls on civilian possession of SALW".

The article then forms the conclusion, which it describes as "a positive note", that the processes have contributed good value in elevating the status of SALW, placing them more deeply into the stream of major disarmament initiatives.



August 1, 2008

South African court decision

A High Court decision in Pretoria, South Africa, has found in favour of a gun collector's application to add a number of pieces to his historical firearms collection.

Acting Judge Piet Ebersohn criticized the various authorities in charge of processing applications, saying that they lack competence of the sort necessary to make valid judgements about collecting, having gained their firearms information only from criminal cases.

The judge noted that the collection of George Black was organized according to sound principles, around Boer War to WWI arms, and he experienced considerable frustration in having licence applications refused by a standard form letter saying that the arms did not fit the theme of the collection. In particular, criticism was directed against the specific official who denied the application, Jaco Botha, whose conduct in the matter, Judge Ebersohn said, "made a mockery of the process of registering as a collector and registering specific themes". The judge ordered the licences to be granted.




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