How to: Getting a gun license

The need to protect family or property has prompted an increased number of Jamaicans to get a licensed firearm to aid in their protection. Here is how to apply to the Firearm Licensing Authority for the legal use of a firearm:

1. Pay the application fee of $12,000 at the tax office and submit the receipt, along with the completed application form, to the superintendent of police in charge of the jurisdiction in which you work or do business.

2. The following documents will accompany the completed application form:

• Two passport-size photos - One certified by a Justice of the Peace

• Two recommendations - May be from a justice of the peace, lawyer, medical doctor, principal and gazetted-rank police officer (not below the rank of deputy superintendent) and member of the Jamaica Defence Force (major and above).

• A passport or birth certificate for proof of age.

• Original and photocopy of fingerprint receipt.

• Licence booklet or card.

3. Applicants must be able to prove that they have a safe, where the weapon can be stored when not in use, either at home or business place.

4. Applicants will have to undergo a fingerprint check and a rigorous background check. Homes and business places are visited, safe inspected, and friends and relatives interviewed where necessary.

5. The police then check with special branch to ascertain if you are a suitable candidate. Checks are also made with the Narcotics Division and the National Intelligence Bureau to rule out serious criminal involvement on a transnational basis, drug smuggling or deportation.

6. Deportees who were sent home because of immigration violations are not prevented from carrying licensed firearms.

7. The applicant should not have been convicted for an offence involving a breach of the Firearms Act or an offence involving violence in Jamaica within the last five years.

8. Investigators will also try to establish whether the person is otherwise unfit - below age 18, is a drunk, a gambler, short-tempered, prone to the use of violence or, generally quarrelsome.