The An­tigua and Bar­bu­da gov­ern­ment is urg­ing peo­ple to take full ad­van­tage of a gun amnesty that be­gins on Mon­day and ends at the end of the month, says it rep­re­sents an­oth­er op­por­tu­ni­ty for peo­ple to hand over un­law­ful firearms.

Chief of Staff in the Prime Min­is­ter’s Of­fice, Am­bas­sador Li­onel Hurst, said sev­er­al in­di­vid­u­als have al­ready been brought be­fore the courts and sen­tenced to up to two years in prison un­der the coun­try’s up­dat­ed firearms laws.

“This is yet an­oth­er op­por­tu­ni­ty for peo­ple to hand over un­law­ful firearms. There’s now a manda­to­ry jail sen­tence for those found in pos­ses­sion. So we urge in­di­vid­u­als to do the right thing and turn them in,” he added.