BRIEFS. public safety

Mirones favors stricter gun control

The director of the Policía Nacional (PN), Rolando Mirones, said he is in favor of new and stricter controls for the possession of firearms. According to PN’s statistics, 300 of the 417 homicides reported in 2007 involved a firearm.

Although he admitted to be oblivious to the content of a draft law that the Ejecutivo will soon bring before the Asamblea Nacional, Mirones said that he was in favor of prohibiting the possession of firearms by civilians.

Mirones said that in those countries where such a prohibition against firearms exists, "the results are very positive."

"I wish we could move in that direction because guns have only brought grief and pain to the people of this country," he said.

Last Tuesday, Ministro de Gobierno y Justicia Daniel Delgado Diamante announced that he would bring the draft law before the Asamblea Nacional on Wednesday or Thursday of this week, but that never occurred. He did say, however, that new controls for the importation, sale, distribution and possession of firearms will be established.