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Put your guns down and let us act: Police
In attempt to curb violent crimes and the misuse of firearms, Jakarta Police have called on residents to surrender firearms kept for self-defense and trust the police to deal with crimes
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n attempt to curb violent crimes and the misuse of firearms, Jakarta Police have called on residents to surrender firearms kept for self-defense and trust the police to deal with crimes.
The city police, as of 2005, had issued 5,000 firearm licenses for Jakarta residents, including top business executives and government officials.
The police no longer issue such licenses after the National Police in the same year issued a regulation restricting civilians from personally keeping a firearm. Five years after the regulation, however, Jakarta Police said that only see 3,000 firearms were voluntarily surrendered by their owners.
With 2,000 firearms still illegally held by residents, city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar urged city residents to immediately report possession of their guns.
“The illegal possession of a firearm is considered a criminal offence no matter what the reason,” city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said Wednesday, “those who use them for sport are also restricted from taking their guns home and must keep them in the police’s arsenal,” he said.
A citizen that illegally keeps a firearm can be charged under the 1951 Emergency Law, which carries a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison.
With many illegal firearms kept by residents, police have found more and more cases involving the misuse of firearms.
Earlier this week in Cibubur, Greater Jakarta, three people — a taxi driver, a car owner and a security guard — were rushed to hospital after being shot by three alleged criminals who were fleeing police in the Legenda Wisata residential complex.
Earlier this month, Jakarta Police announced they had confiscated 26 firearms from dozens of suspects arrested during a five-month operation aimed at tackling street crime.
The police said the confiscated firearms had been used in 46 violent theft cases between January and May this year.
In January, Nuryadi Darmawan, a Bekasi city councilor from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, was reported to police after pointing his gun at a waiter for delivering his food “too slowly”. The Bekasi Police confirmed that Nuryadi did not have a license for the gun.
Professional shooters supported the police’s initiative to control the illegal possession of firearms.
“Such strict regulations are necessary to provide more security to the public,” the secretary of the Jakarta branch of the Indonesian Target Shooting and Hunting Association’s (Perbakin), Agung Prabowo, told The Jakarta Post.
