Not all illegal guns glitter

Former Minister Duminda Dissanayake has been remanded in custody in connection with a T-56 assault rifle with some gold-coloured parts, taken into custody at an apartment complex in Colombo. The police have said they are conducting further investigations to find out whether the firearm has been used in criminal activity.

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Crime and politics are joined at the hip, in Sri Lanka. Many politicians are believed to have undeclared firearms in their possession. One can only hope that the police will make a serious effort to seize all lethal weapons in the wrong hands. Worryingly, there is reason to believe that they are only scratching the surface of the problem.

Immediately after last year’s regime change, the MPs were asked to return the repeater guns they had obtained from the Defence Ministry, and they readily complied for obvious reasons. But those guns account for only a fraction of the weapons issued to politicians and others over the decades. In January 2019, the then Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando disclosed in Colombo that about 4,700 9mm pistols and revolvers had been licensed but there was no information about those who had obtained them, and some of them possessed as many as 15 small firearms each!