Fresh gun licensing is good for public safety

The events of the past week provide compelling reasons to control guns. Too many firearms are in the hands of the wrong people, who use them for criminal acts.

When terrorists struck the Dusit complex in Nairobi last week, several civilians — some of dubious backgrounds, including shadowy politicians — emerged with sophisticated firearms that they liberally showed off, irrespective of the inherent risks. Indeed, this caused an uproar, with the public asking how some of these people had acquired the military-grade firearms. But that is just the tip of iceberg. Gun crime is frighteningly on the rise.

Against this background, Monday’s announcement by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i that the government will upgrade the licences makes a lot of sense. Starting March, the government will issue new generation licences — smart cards — with security features to civilian gun holders. But they must go through vetting to determine their suitability to hold the guns. This is vital to contain gun crime and potentially explosive situations. And in that regard, it is pertinent to keep a clean record of licensed civilian gun owners and weed out non-desirables who pose a serious threat to the other citizens.

Since late last year, the government has pushed for changes in the issuance of guns. The first step was disbanding the Firearms Licensing Board and appointing a new one to dismantle cartels that had muddled gun ownership certification. Secondly, it ordered fresh vetting of civilian gun holders and users.

The objective is to ensure that the weapons are not in the hands of dubious characters; those with the proclivity to misuse them. We hope the exercise has provided good insights into the level of rot in the licensing of guns and extent of gun running.

Many civilians own guns and licences obtained through dubious means. Given the porous borders that allow infiltration of immigrants from war-torn countries, illegal guns easily find their way into our territory. More worrying is the corruption that attends to the licensing.

Those operating guns illegally pose a serious threat to the citizens and people they generally interact with. Some of the gun owners do not have the aptitude and comportment to handle the weapons. They can pull the trigger at the slightest of disagreement, making them a real threat to security.

The government must now move beyond issuing the smart cards and proceed to clean the entire chain and dismantle cartels that sell the licences and protect the illegal owners. A proper system and structure is crucial to clear the mess in gun licensing.