More Jamaicans are arming themselves with guns, prompted, apparently, by the island’s skyrocketing and seemingly out-of-control murder rate, based on figures from the State-run Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA).
Jamaica, with a population of approximately 2.8 million people, recorded 1,616 murders in 2017, a 19.4 per cent increase over 2016, which has played into the view that Jamaica is one of the most violent countries in the world per capita.
Information obtained from the FLA by the Jamaica Observer through the Access to Information Act (AIA) showed that, except for one year, there has been an annual increase in the number of firearm licences issued over the five-year period 2012 to 2016.
In fact, of the 42,136 firearm licence holders on the FLA’s record, 20,402 were issued during the five-year period 2012 to 2016 during which murders averaged more than 1,000 annually.
In 2012, some 1,864 firearm licences were issued, with a giant leap in 2013 to 4,494. The number issued in 2014 dropped to 4,043, but the following year, 2015, the figured moved to 4,706, and in 2016 increased to 5,295, the FLA said.
At the same time, more than 700 licensed firearm holders reported their weapons lost or stolen during the same period 2012 to 2016, with 305 in 2016 alone and 274 in 2015. In 2012, the figure was 53; 59 in 2013; and 60 in 2014.
The FLA was unable to say how many licensed firearm holders were killed or injured in confrontation with gunmen.
