SL an illegal firearm haven

By Ayesha Wijeratne
Nearly 35,000 illegal firearms are in circulation in Sri Lanka, disclosed South Asian Small Arms Network (Sri Lanka) (SASA Net) Chairman Kingsley Rodrigo, recently said.
The situation, Rodrigo pointed out, was exacerbating the prevailing insecurity in the country. He added that majority of those who hold the illegal firearms were the youth.

“Around 15,000 weapons had been given to politicians and their supporters during election time by the then government in 1989 to overcome threats by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). But records show that, since 1989, those who were given weapons are yet to return them to the respective authorities,” Rodrigo said. He said there were some 70,000 Army deserters in the country who had left their weapons in their camps at Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi and Elephant Pass, paving the way not only for civilians, but even the LTTE, to easily acquire them.

According to SASA Net, there were more than 20,000 illegal firearms circulating in the country in 2006.
According to estimates, more than 1,000 civilians die annually due to incidents related to illegal firearms. The most number of deaths have been recorded in the Anuradhapura District, due to the injuries caused by trap guns.
Approximately 2,500 people sustain injuries every year due to trap gun related incidents. In addition, some 22 elephants die of trap gun related incidents annually.

Rodrigo said that a new reform to the Firearms Act would be enacted as soon as the matter was taken up in Parliament. He said that Additional Solicitor General Dappula De Silva was working on it, as one of the members of the National Commission to Combat Illicit Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW).