Authorities in Trinidad are moving with haste to implement Florida-style stand-your-ground laws as a means of fighting violent felony crimes, including home invasions, authorities said this week.
Attorney General John Jeremie told reporters that the new administration, which won general elections in the federation with Tobago in late April, is in a hurry to pass such a law by mid-year as it is listed as a cabinet priority.
If and when enacted, the Twin Island Republic will be the first CARICOM member state to have such a unique law, but officials say it is highly necessary in a nation averaging more than 500 killings annually.
On the campaign trail up to the April 28 elections, then-opposition leader and now Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had urged licensed firearm holders to defend themselves. “When the criminals invade your homes, you can draw your licensed firearm and light them up! Empty the whole clip! Empty it! Light them up! We have to fight fire with fire!”
As part of the effort to relieve frightened citizens, the government says that the Ministry of Homeland Security has been asked to develop a slew of legal measures citizens can use to defend themselves against attacks by criminals. Additionally, a study group is being formed to examine ways of dealing with home invasions and to determine what laws can be drafted to support such measures.
The move to ensure laws dealing with the use of a firearm while defending self, family, and property are amended came as a result of a 2023 case when the wife of a permit holder had grabbed her husband’s weapon and killed a home invader.
Police had debated whether she should have been criminally charged for using force excessively and backed away in the end. However, the current cabinet says its efforts are designed to clarify actions in such situations to protect the rights of victims in such circumstances.
Other measures being looked at and actions taken include increasing approvals for gun permits that police and security officials will issue to interested citizens in the coming months. “We will be reviewing shortly the firearm license laws. Remember, we’ve said we will consider giving legal firearms to law-abiding citizens? But they will only be given to persons who want it. If you don’t want a firearm user license, you know what to do. Do not apply,” the PM had said shortly after taking office.
The main opposition, the People’s National Movement (PNM), opposed how the issue was being pushed, with then-Prime Minister Keith Rowley describing the proposed law as reckless.
“When the opposition leader says that their answer to their supporters’ call for defense from the criminal element is to pass in the parliament of this country stand-your-ground legislation, I want to ask the opposition leader: what ground are they going to stand on to kill anybody they want to kill and simply say, I was afraid of that person, or, that person was about to attack me in the road or my yard, and I killed them?”
Still, the current PM is adamant that more guns in the hands of citizens empowered by the stand-your-ground law are the answer to violent crime, home invasions in particular.
“Our proposal means putting into our laws the legal principle that allows a person to use force in self-defense without retreating. Right now, you can only use reasonable force. But this principle, also castle doctrine, states that individuals have the right to use force, including deadly force, to protect themselves against an intruder in their homes. The law will protect homeowners, business people, and occupiers when they use force, including deadly force, against any intruder who unlawfully and forcibly enters their residence,” she said recently.
