DPS cautions House against easing of gun control

Public Safety Commissioner Charles W. Ingram Jr. has recommended the inclusion of strict provisions in the proposed legislation that seeks to relax the use of handguns in the Northern Marianas.

Sponsored by House Floor Leader Oscar M. Babauta, HB 12-212, which will amend the existing Weapons Control Act, hopes to lure resort developments offering shooting practice and target ranges.

The House Committee on Commerce and Tourism said this is an incentive to attract major developers of so-called “shooting resorts” that will provide to tourists non-traditional activities such as target ranges for rifle competition and skeet shooting with shotguns.

However, Mr. Ingram cautioned the CNMI officials against hastily jumping into investments that promises to provide economic benefits at the expense of the safety of the residents.

“We all know that there are better and safer ways to invest in the Commonwealth without jeopardizing the sanctity of the laws designed to protect our people. Many may shrug off the safety issue as inevitable and present without the passage of this bill. However, we shall not become the catalysts for our own demise,” Mr. Ingram said.

The bill has cleared the House of Representatives and now pending at the Senate. Amending the existing gun control laws in the CNMI is one of the steps that the island government must take if it wants any developer to infuse at least $3 million in fresh investments, according to a report by the House Committee on Commerce and Tourism chaired by Rep. Florencio T. Guerrero.

Among the amendments proposed by the Mr. Ingram are:

• Ensure that investors shall provide safeguards consistent with the law. Investors must likewise assume all liability arising out of the operation and establishment of the shooting resort thus, indemnifying DPS/ government.

• The licensee shall ensure that safety and auditing measures are instituted for the importation, receiving, storage and sending of all firearms. All storage facilities and shooting resort plans and designs, prior to construction, must be subject to review by DPS inclusive of facility plan specifications, high security systems and conformance of the Fire Code, DPS Rules and Regulations for Shooting Resorts as well as applicable federal laws regulating the storage of explosives and ammunitions and the construction of such facilities.

• Weapons and ammunitions must be stored separately and in accordance with the federal and local storage facility specifications. The resort shall employ only personnel certified and trained by DPS for all operational and related matters of the shooting resort.

• Employees of the resort shall be subject to background check and must have no criminal records. Failure to submit or pass mandatory drug tests shall be grounds for immediate termination and revocation of certification without a review hearing. The resort shall be subject to unannounced auditing and inspection by DPS.