Alphecca: Indonesian Cops Seize Private Guns

December 21, 2006

Indonesian Cops Seize Private Guns

Another country decides that the citizens aren't fit to possess firearms. From the Jakarta Post:

The National Police said Wednesday they have seized at least 4,759 out of 17,516 registered firearms they plan to take away from civilians to keep them from being used in criminal acts.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Sisno Adiwinoto argued many owners of the private guns had misused them.

Others failed to renew their ownership permits properly, he added.

"Civilians holding the licenses have sometimes failed to renew them or report to us. Moreover, they sometimes use agents to renew so it's hard for us to get accurate identification data," said Sisno.

"Many of them are not even suitable candidates to carry firearms anymore because of illness, failing psychological tests or no longer possessing the required shooting skill certificates," he added.

Sisno said some other civilians with dubious identifications and jobs had used their authorized firearms for "other means besides protection".

So according to this, they've decided that a whopping third of all gun owners are unfit to do so. For some, though, the move doesn't go far enough:

Under the 1999 Police Decree on firearms, civilians who meet certain requirements, such as private bankers, businesspeople, prosecutors, judges and lawyers, can apply to the police chief to own firearms.

The decree stipulates that applicants must meet medical and psychological requirements and earn shooting skill certificates.

The civilian owners must then renew their gun permits regularly and report to the police chief.

Criminologist Adrianus Meliala, who also serves as a National Police consultant, said the firearms withdrawal plan did not go far enough to fight armed crime.

"The police have good intentions, because they want to decrease the amount of violence. But the current actions will not have enough effect," he said.

The police, he added, should follow up on the move by amending the regulations to tighten the private firearms ownership.

All of this is supposed to fight "illegal guns" yet it's the registered ones they're taking. I can almost guarantee this will have no effect on crime there.

People always say that it can't happen here. That's probably what they said in England, Australia, China, Scotland, and all the other countries where authorities have banned and confiscated guns from private subjects. Heck, that's what they said in California, where suddenly a whole class of guns were deemed "illegal" and owners were forced to turn them in... And while we're on the subject -- Remember Katrina and New Orleans!

Posted by Jeff Soyer at December 21, 2006 07:05 AM

Comments

I beg to differ. It most certainly will have an effect on the crime rate. The same effect England is experiencing an ever increasing upward spiral.

Posted by: straightarrow at December 21, 2006 11:13 AM

"People always say that it can't happen here. That's probably what they said in England, Australia, China, Scotland, and all the other countries where authorities have banned and confiscated guns from private subjects."

I don't know about any of the others, but what happened in the UK was distinctly different. There, the populace was gradually conditioned by propaganda over several decades to believe that "it should happen here." There's an essay on the Web that describes what happened to weapons rights in England over the last century or so. It's one of the more blood-curdling things you'll read on the subject, because it illustrates just how much our "rights" depend on societal ideas rather than laws or constitutions. If the society says "that is not a right anymore," then it's not, regardless of what the law says.

Posted by: wolfwalker at December 21, 2006 08:58 PM

Never visited indonesia, but i suspect that many of those confiswiped guns will be going straight out the back door of the cop shop to suppliment the cop's wages.

If that is the case, the one consolation is that the new owners will probably not be the really big criminals. They can get their arms for free...

Just thinking about the psychobabbel tests, do the results improve with increasing back hander payments?

My point? I don't think that Indonesia is that much more corrupt than the US or UK, we're just better at ignoring ours.

Posted by: Keith at December 25, 2006 12:14 PM

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December 21, 2006

Indonesian Cops Seize Private Guns

By Golly, you're reading an archived post. Click Here to head to the main page and read current stuff...

Check it out:

My group sci-fi blog novel:

Colony: Alchibah