BAR FIGHT - Defence lawyers says ‘unrelenting’ push for gun law reform about fairness, justice

The Advocates’ Association of Jamaica (AAJ) and Jamaican Bar Association are dismissing what they described as “narratives being peddled” to distort their campaign for amendments to the Firearms (Prohibition, Restriction and Regulation) Act.

Chief among them, they say, is the notion that the groups want to do away with the statutory mandatory minimum sentences of 15 years under the act, which took effect in 2022.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” King’s Counsel Peter Champagnie declared at a press conference yesterday as defence lawyers withdrew their services in criminal courts islandwide to push the Government to take their concerns seriously.