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For security's sake, relax gun
control
By HENRY K. MWITARI
Daily Nation
05. Jan. 2004
The first case of illicit firearms possession was reported in
Turkana District in 1928. Demand was driven by the need by
communities in this district to defend themselves against Sudanese
raiders targeting their animals.
Since then, pastoralists have always armed themselves with
unlicensed firearms, which are used as defensive as well as
offensive weapons.
Despite sustained and expensive Government efforts to eradicate
illegal ownership of these lethal machines, little success has
been achieved 70 years later. Why? Because successive governments
have failed to protect these pastoralists and their property.
The use of firearms by urban criminals is as old as our
independence but was limited to a few hands, mainly because guns
were expensive and scarce. Today, they have become cheap and
readily available.
Firearms are no longer the preserve of a few hard-core criminals.
Today, youths are turning to crime purely because of the ease with
which they can acquire guns. Urban centres have become fertile
hunting grounds because the security-ignorant Kenyans provide soft
targets.
The business community have not been spared either. These firearms
have fallen into the hands of professional hit squads hired to
eliminate rivals.
The use of hard drugs further complicates the already bad
situation. Cases of violent robberies continue to be reported, and
there seems to be no end in sight. Something drastic must be done
to get us out of this quagmire.
This is because the toll in human life and the devastation wrought
by firearms only add salt to wounds of poverty. After all, most
victims of illicit firearms are usually the most productive
members of society.
There are two options, in my view, to get ourselves out of the
quandary. The first one is to carry out a countrywide "sweep" by
cordoning and searching everywhere there is human activity. But
this, of course, is impracticable.
The second is easy, but it always draws mixed reactions – the
liberalisation of firearm ownership.
Kenyans are good debaters. Very good reasons will be given for and
against the relaxation of restrictions on licensing firearms.
Those who advocate this solution would carry the day.
Unfortunately, they don't fall in the category which influences
policy decisions save for Minister Martha Karua (after her
infamous carjacking), and a few other highly-placed Kenyans.
Intellectual discourse will not help either. When you go about
saving a life, you tend to ignore the side-effects of the
treatment given especially when choice is limited. We are limited
in choice. The only way out, in my view, is relaxing the rules on
acquisition of firearms.
We must distinguish between those who have chosen the line of
crime and the law-abiding. The victims suffer double prejudice
because they cannot use firearms to defend themselves, while the
criminal can flout the law to break another law.
This is why the law needs changing. The advantages of arming the
public far outweigh the disadvantages. Following are the
disadvantages:
Firearms are used in isolated suicide cases, and sometimes on the
domestic front when a man shoots his wife and vice-versa.
Should guns be licensed, there will be less need to hire security
guards, resulting in a drop in the number of security firms.
The number of accidental shootings will increase, while there
will, of course, be a loss in earning for those engaging in
campaigns against the use of small arms.
And here are the advantages:
Licensing firearms will deal death-blow to the illicit firearms
business.
Using firearms to commit crime will become almost impossible.
These days, armed robberies take place in full public view.
There will be a big saving for the Exchequer relieved of the
enormous cost of fighting armed crime.
There will be a reduced toll in human life, and fewer incidents of
violent dispossession of property.
As a result, economic production will rise, and there will be
greater freedom of movement.
Overall, a new lease of life will have been injected into the
souls of long-suffering Kenyans.
This is the best New Year gift Kenyans can receive from the
President. As the saying foes, "You can stop a whole army, but not
an idea whose time has come". The time for this idea is, indeed,
here.
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