The Ghana Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons is discouraging Ghanaians from seeking to own firearms.
According to the Deputy Director of Policy, Planning, Evaluation and Monitoring at the commission, Gyebi Asante, possessing a firearm does not offer full protection as perceived but rather has a psychological toll on the owner.
He indicated that those in possession of arms become paranoid and are likely to pull the trigger even when their lives are not under threat.
To avoid the psychological toll and the likelihood of harming others, Mr. Asante advised the populace to assist the security agencies to maintain law and order in their localities instead of seeking to own firearms.
“Those who, the least thing, ‘I want a weapon to protect myself, I need a weapon to protect myself’. When you get a weapon, it doesn’t really give you that kind of self protection that you think it gives you. It has some psychological effect on you. So, the least thing, your mind goes to the weapon. So even in situations where your life is not really being threatened, you feel like going for the weapon,” he stated.
The laws of Ghana permit civilians to acquire arms and ammunition for the purposes of self-protection, hunting and protecting valuable assets.
Citizens seeking to acquire weapons for the aforementioned reasons are required to follow laid down procedure in doing so and are expected to renew their possession of the said weapons annually.
However, there has been proliferation of illegally acquired small arms in the country in recent times, raising concerns among stakeholders.
A survey by the Ghana Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons in 2014, Mr. Asante disclosed, revealed about 1.2 million illicit arms in circulation in the country.
He said although the commission will rather civilians who seek to own such weapons for self protection follow the laid down procedure, it does not augur well for the peace and security of the country if many get hold of firearms even through legal means.
“It doesn’t help when everybody wants to own a weapon. And that’s why we are seeing what we are seeing in places like Bawku. A lot of people have weapons. So the least misunderstanding, somebody goes to pull the weapon and wants to settle some scores”.
