Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang has come under fire from Jamaicans on social media after taking a hardnosed stance in support of a broad-brush ban on guns for minors, irrespective of interest-specific activities.

Chang, chairing a Joint Select Committee meeting on Wednesday (March 9), knocked heads with Government Senator Sherene Golding Campbell, who said the minister’s response was purely “emotional” and not driven by data.

Golding Campbell, reviewing amendments to the Firearms Prohibition Restriction & Regulation Act (2022), was alarmed by Chang’s remarks that guns were “weapons of mass destruction in Jamaica” given that currently, the Firearms Licensing Authority (FLA) issues user permits to persons 12 years and older.

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In response, Chang contended that the FLA doesn’t use “age of maturity” when considering firearms applications and argued that no one under the age of 18 should be allowed to use guns.

The sentiment was also echoed by committee members Dwight Sibblies (Member of Parliament of Northern Clarendon) and Marlene Malahoo Forte (Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs).

“Let’s just note a few things. The permit is issued to a younger person to use a firearm that is licensed to someone else, not a licence by itself and you are not independently licensed to carry the firearm. What you are being permitted to do is to use it in defined circumstances,” clarified Malahoo Forte.

The committee was debating a joint submission from the Jamaica Rifle Association (JRA) and Jamaica Skeet Club (JSC), which challenged why the age limit was being raised to 16 years.

Particularly, the two groups recommended that Parliament lower the age limit to 12 years, in some instances and age 14 in others, depending on the firearm in question.

“However, that on the actual authorisation, dependent on the activity/discipline or firearm, that a lower limit is established in policy, as follows: air guns – age 12; shotguns (20 gauge) – age 12; shotguns (12 gauge) – age 14; .22LR rifle – age 14; pistols and rifles – age 14,” both the JRA and JSC said.

Chang, responding to a question from committee member Fitz Jackson, about “latitudes” for young Jamaicans within licensed gun clubs, said unlike detailed exemptions for trainees attached to the Jamaica Combined Cadet Force (JCCF), he did not share the confidence that firearms are taken seriously and such ‘latitudes’ would not be worth considering at this time when the country should be focused on deterring “mischief”.

“I hear you but still I think we have to send a signal [that] the management of a firearm in Jamaican society has to be very specific and limited to some rigid protocols. I’m not comfortable with [exemptions going] to any private [gun] club at all, whether they are JRA or non-JRA for that age group,” argued the deputy prime minister.

For her part, Golding Campbell counterargued that a blanket ban would be a disservice to children engaged in competitive shooting, including skeet events.

“Chairman, I appreciate that position but what is the mischief we are seeking to prevent? We are seeking to prevent firearms from moving out of a space where they are used for illegal purposes, yes? So, if that is the mischief we’re seeking to [control] how is that permitted by restricting based on the age category?” queried the senator.

“My second question would be, have there been, and is there an issue, of guns leaving the custody of licensed holders in these [gun] clubs etc.? And are we having a problem with those guns getting out into the wider society and being used for illegal purposes?” Golding Campbell asked further.

According to Golding Campbell, taking that approach would better inform the Government on its policy directives, rather than reacting to the shock value of the national murder tally.

Chang said, despite their intended uses, guns such as the .22LR rifle are “death weapons” and he found nothing ‘leisurely’ about their use, while insisting there must be a greater level of responsibility and acknowledgement of the potential lethality.

Golding Campbell, though agreeing, replied: “I’m trying to understand how that impacts the provision on the firearm user permit in relation to the age restriction?”

“With all due respect, persons who leave their guns in cars are grown men usually, not 16-year-olds and 14-year-olds and 12-year-olds,” she said.

Conceding that there are sporting events where minors use pistols, Chang declared he doesn’t “think they should be allowed to participate”.

“But how can that be our position here, if these are international events?” asked Golding Campbell.

Chang asserted that these international events don’t apply to Jamaica’s current gun crisis and that the country’s “situation is different”, which further irritated Golding Campbell.

“I get that chairman, but what you’re saying is that we must restrict young people from a particular recreational activity here, so they would not be allowed to reach international standard, and that doesn’t make sense to me for a policy point-of-view,” the seasoned attorney-turned-Government senator rebuffed.

Admitting her questions stemmed from her “own interest”, Golding Campbell added: “With the greatest of respect, it does not assist the policy initiative that we’re trying to move forward, which is to prevent illegal guns from killing people!”

“I have two boys: one from cadet and one from the recreational perspective who participate in that sport. And you’re saying they wouldn’t be permitted to and that, in my mind, does not impact the question of whether or not the gun is illegal and goes to kill somebody. So what’s our rationale? We must have a rationale,” she asserted.

According to Chang, the “rationale is simple, to remove it totally”, adding that “nobody under 18 should handle a firearm of this level”, which Golding Campbell noted was the minister’s “position, not a rationale”.

Said Chang: “The provision is that firearm in Jamaica is a weapon of mass destruction, in plain language, and, therefore, whether it is legal or illegal, there must be a sense of responsibility associated with it. And I think limiting the age and the use, as I said, in this situation—a .22[LR] rifle—[I’m] not allowing any junior to use it while I’m minister.”

An exasperated Golding Campbell hit back again: “Sir, I get that but with the greatest of respect it can’t be just your personal position. We must have empirical bases on which we make these decisions.”

Chang then claimed that the empirical data laid bare for all to see, “every year, for the last 20 years, we murder [at least] 1,200 people in this country”.

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Many Jamaican Twitter users slammed the minister’s rhetoric as unhelpful, siding with Golding Campbell by concluding Chang was being “emotional” about gun control.