The Firearm Licensing Authority’s debacle
Maroon Chief, Richard Currie and recording artiste, Jah Cure, were among the over 200 cases at the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) whose gun licences are under question.
The Firearms Act (1967) requires all licensed firearm carriers to renew their licence every year. Currie was in breach as his gun licence had expired. According to Currie’s attorney-at-law, Valerie Neita-Robertson, her client’s name as a firearm holder should not have been released to the public. The FLA’s responsibility is to secure the name of anyone who possesses a legal gun. The news of Chief Currie’s standing with the FLA came from the FLA CEO Shane Dalling who spoke at a press conference.
Neita-Robertson stated that Currie had not been contacted by the FLA regarding his failure to renew his firearm licence and, as such, should not be under any scrutiny. She noted that since the pandemic the FLA had firearm holders a grace period in which they could come in at any time to renew their licences without paying the late renewal fee.
On the other hand, Jah Cure is known to be a convicted criminal and was granted a provisional approval by the FLA to receive a licence. After this provisional approval, questionable actions of Jah Cure were released to the public and the approval was revoked. At the time, Dennis Meadows was the deputy chairman of the FLA. He stated that Jah Cure had not been given a gun licence. However, Dalling later said that Jah Cure’s licence had been approved and over 200 people of questionable character and criminal background were granted licences under Meadow’s administration.
The Major Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Agency (MOCA) is now conducting an investigation at the FLA. Dalling is making it clear to the public that as the CEO he is not a part of the board that grants licences.
