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Lanka has no gun lobby, but small arms freely available and used
As in the United States, Sri Lanka may not have Second Amendment or a powerful National Rifle Association, which has most politicians under its barrel, but small arms are freely available with unauthorised people and is the reason for the spree of Chicago style incidents in recent months.
Devices and two weapons recovered by the Police during a recent arrest. Pic by Sunil Thanthiriarachchi
Police said there had been 12 shooting incidents, resulting in 6 deaths and 7 persons injured since January to date. All incidents were linked to underworld gangs which used small arms.
Last week, a 42-year-old man, was shot dead in his car in broad day light by two gunmen who came on a motor cycle.The victim, a resident of Dematagoda, is believed to be part of an underworld drug gang.
On 8 March, three people were shot at Hettiawatte in Kotahena by two men who came on a motorcycle.
On February 18, a 51-year-old man was shot dead at Thalangama by two men who came on a motorcycle. The killers had walked into his home and shot at point blank range, killing the man and injuring his wife.
Such shooting incidents have become regular now and police have made little headway in their investigations.
Some of the incidents are believed to be linked to organised crimes, including robberies. In most such cases automatic weapons had been used. Increasingly, small arms are also being used to settle family and land disputes.
The South Asia Small Arms Network’s Sri Lanka office in a survey has said that since 2006, there has been a culture of small arms related crimes, particularly homicides, attempted homicides and contract killings. It has been found that shot guns, rifles, pistols, trap guns and automatic weapons are being widely used in society.
In 2005 President Chandrika Kumaratunga in keeping with the United Nations resolution established a National Commission to deal with the proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons in Sri Lanka.
The Commission came up with several proposals including border control and prevention of smuggling, expanding customs’ capacity to detect small arms, providing amnesty for collection of small fire arms from the public and public awareness of issues relating to small fire arms.
The Commission also said the Police’s inability to control gun violence could be linked to the lack of staff, transport and communication methods.
A closer look at the recovered weapons.
The investigative capacity of the police, the Commission said was hindered by the limited availability of vehicles and due to language problem for Sinhala speaking police officers working in the north.
It was found that the police failed to monitor and process cases of illicit possession, identification and record keeping of small arms and ammunition.
The Commission which was assisted by the United Nations Development Programme called on the Government to formulate new laws to crack down on the use of small arms and other weapons.
In January 2004, a general amnesty was granted to illicit small fire arm holders. Only about 1,300 weapons were handed over, and in a second amnesty in October the same year, only about 500 weapons were handed over under a buy back programme.
The Commission in a disturbing observation said the handing over of small arms was not taking place as it should apparently because people lacked trust in Police and wanted to keep their firearms to settle disputes.
The Commission also noted that ineffective law enforcement over the years had increased the power of organised gangs, while political patronage had made it easier for these gangs to get firearms.
The Commission also noted that Police investigations were hampered by lack of training. They are ill-equipped and not motivated while there is also the fear of a transfer if they investigated a crime and there is political interference.
The 206-page report finalised in March 2008 lies only in print. Brigadier Ranjan de Silva who was a member of the 15-member committee said the report was presented to the then Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, but little or no serious action was taken.
He said there were some reforms during the first term of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, but little or nothing happened during his second term in terms of gun control.
As for the situation now, the Defence Ministry’s Additional Secretary N.G. Pandirathna said he was not aware of the report by the Commission.
Retired Senior Deputy Inspector General, Sirisena Herath who did a programme titled ‘Amaridu’ in 2005 to tackle the link between illicit small arms and crime, said that crime had become a business opportunity among young people.
He said that it was important to have civil society consultation in combating the proliferation of small arms.
Meanwhile, the Police claimed that they have developed a strategy to counter the growing gun culture. A Police Special Task Force officer said investigations had revealed that most shootings were connected to narcotics.
“There are several out there on bail and they are behind the shootings,” he lamented.
He attributed the JVP upheaval in 1987-1990 followed by the the 30-year-old civil war for easy availability of small arms. The situation had been made by military deserters and by other unscrupulous military and police personnel who smuggle out arms from the police and military armouries.
He said ammunition was freely available for gangs because LTTE arsenals uncovered after the war are now in underworld markets.
“We have taken note of the incidents and will soon come up with a strategy to combat illicit small fire arms,” he said.