Guatemala Passes Gun Control Law
Guatemala - After several months of debate, the Guatemalan Congress approved the Weapon and Ammunition Control Law, considered essential to reduce violence.
The regulation reduces to one the four licenses previously granted to each citizen to buy armaments, and they are able now to buy three weapons instead of 12, as previously established.
It also stipulated several requirements before granting the permit, including a clean criminal record and passing psychological assessment, income certification and proof of employment.
The legislation also set between five and 15 years of imprisonment for crimes like possession, export, import, or illegal sale of weapons and ammunitions.
Shooting without a justified reason and parading with these devices, although they are legal, will also be punished.
Congressional Government Commission Chair Santiago Najera considered the law progressive and a tool that will allow to the judicial system to work correctly.
The regulation will now be presented to the Executive, which should ratify it and make it come into force.
Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom welcomed the approval of the law and called it an important instrument to fulfill the National Security Program, which will be signed by the three state powers on April 15.