Manama: A Kuwaiti MP has urged his fellow lawmakers to hand in any unlicensed weapons in their possession to the interior ministry.
“We should all support the law that parliament has approved and apply its provisions,” Nabeel Al Fadhl said. “All lawmakers who have weapons should join this initiative and present a good example to be emulated by citizens. We can agree on a specific date and head to the interior ministry to hand in our weapons,” he said, local daily Al Kuwaitiya reported on Tuesday.
The Kuwaiti parliament approved a law organising the collection of unlicensed firearms and ammunition in January.
The law allowed the police, following authorisation from the interior ministry, to search any public location and private or public vehicles “if there was cause to believe there are unlicensed or unlawful firearms or ammunition.”
The law stipulates that anyone possessing unlicensed firearms and ammunition could be jailed for three years and fined 3,000 dinars (Dh37,164.)
The jail time is increased to seven years and there is a 20,000 dinar fine for anyone who buys or sells unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
People with unlicensed firearms and ammunition were given a grace period of four months to hand them in to authorities.
Last month, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Shaikh Mohammad Al Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah asked members of the ruling family to hand over any unlicensed firearms or ammunition in their possession to the unlicensed firearms centres in the country’s five governorates.
In his written request to the Emiri Court, the minister urged the ruling family members to be a role model for all people in abiding by the unlicensed firearms and ammunition collection law passed by parliament.
“This invitation is within the framework of the ministry’s preparation to enforce the new law on everyone without except and in full transparency,” the Interior Ministry’s Security Media Department said in a press statement.
Shaikh Mohammad said the ministry has prepared a watertight forces deployment plan to search for and bring to justice possessors of unlicensed firearms or ammunition in any part of the country.
He added that the ministry was also embarking on a nationwide media campaign to persuade those with unlawful weapons in their possession to hand them in to authorities before the end of the four-month grace period.
The minister stressed that law enforcers will show due respect to traditions and Islamic values during the inspections.
Female officers will participate in the raids on Kuwaiti citizens’ homes to inspect women’s areas, he added.
