The Chief of Police, Major General Manuel Castro Castillo is calling for more control on the carrying and possession of firearms, as well as the revision of Law 36 that covers these issues. The aim is to penalize people who use weapons illegally with prison sentences. “What’s more, when they are well known criminals with criminal backgrounds, they have to be sent straight to prison in order to be able to discourage the use of firearms,” he stressed, speaking yesterday, Thursday 31 July 2014. Castro Castillo recalled that a major proportion of the violence and crime that occur in the country have the use of firearms as a common denominator.
The Attorney General of the Republic Francisco Dominguez Brito recently issued a report that revealed that 576 people had been killed by firearms between January and June 2014. This information rekindled the debate on general disarmament.
Questioned on the issue, Castro Castillo declared: “In all countries, the possession of firearms is allowed, but there must be controls so that weapons are not carried in places where it is not permitted to have them.” He also argued that the process of providing licenses to carry and possess firearms should be stricter.