It is not guns that kill people and animals; it is people who pull the trigger.
REVOCATION OF RIFLE LICENCES UNDER ARMS ACT 1960
KUCHING: The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador might overstep his authority if he revoked lawfully issued rifle licences.
The IGP had allegedly announced that all rifle licences would be revoked as a move to stop wildlife poaching, which seems to be on the rise in the country.
President of State Reform Party Sarawak (STAR), Lina Soo, said the Arms Act 1960 is a Malayan law enacted before the formation of Malaysia to regulate the licensing and ownership of firearms. It was extended to Sarawak and Sabah on September 1, 1977 under emergency rule when the Federal Constitution was suspended.
She stressed that it was a unilateral action undertaken by the federal government without having been approved by the Sarawak Legislative Assembly.
“Before the Arms Act 1960 was extended to Sarawak in 1977, though arguably in an unconstitutional manner; the issuance of rifle, airgun and pistol licences was under the jurisdiction of the Sarawak constabulary and district offices since the reign of Rajah Brooke.
“Even though the Arms Act 1960 has an express clause allowing the IGP to revoke the licences, it does not empower him to ban the licences arbitrarily,” she said in her press statement.
Soo pointed out that a revocation can be justified only when the licence holder is deemed to have breached the licence condition and found in a court of law to be guilty of such offence.
“This means there is no provision for the rifle owner to surrender his licence unconditionally at the behest of the IGP. Therefore, cancelling such licences without securing a conviction first in a court of law is unjustified and unconstitutional,” she said, adding that to disenfranchise gun owners who have legitimate justification to own firearms effectively punishes innocent, law abiding citizens.
Soo also pointed out while shooting is a lawful and legitimate sporting events in the Olympics, Asean Games, as well as Sukma (Malaysia Games), incidences of alleged poaching was seized as an unjustified excuse to deprive licence holders of their rifles.
“The right of Sarawakians to lawfully possess firearms goes as far back as the Brooke rule, which predates Malaysia. Any thought to deprive Sarawakians (who are still largely in the rural areas) of their firearms violates the customs and traditions of the Dayaks and dispossesses them of their right to hunt for food, and the means to protect their crops and homes,” she said.
She urged the state government to restore its state right to issue firearms licences to its own people, as is the tradition and right of Sarawak for more than a century.
“It is not guns that kill people and animals; it is people who pull the trigger,” she said.
