Attorney General Anil Nandlall says he believes a Guyanese court is likely to reach the same conclusion as an English court that tasers or stun guns fall within the category of prohibited weapons under firearms legislation.
Nandlall made the argument on his weekly programme while responding to questions about reports of tasers being sold or otherwise available at commercial establishments in Guyana.
He said that, in his view, the Firearms Act already captures such weapons because of the wording used to prohibit weapons designed or adapted to discharge a “noxious liquid, gas or other thing.”
“I am of the considered view that taser and taser weapons and taser guns fall into [the] category” of weapons prohibited under the Act, Nandlall said.
He pointed to an English case, Flack v Baldry, in which the courts considered whether an electrical stun gun fell within similar wording in the United Kingdom’s Firearms Act 1968.
The House of Lords ultimately held that an electrical stun gun was covered by the legislation. Legal references to the case describe the ruling as establishing that an electrical stun gun could constitute a prohibited weapon under the Act.
Nandlall argued that the language in Guyana’s legislation is sufficiently similar to support a comparable interpretation here.
“Is likely to rule the same way in Guyana,” he said.
He also pointed to Guyana’s Police (Amendment) Act 2021, which introduced the concept of “less lethal weapons” into the police framework and expressly included conducted electrical weapons, including tasers and stun guns. The 2021 parliamentary record confirms that tasers were included in the list of less-lethal weapons for police use.
Nandlall said this distinction is important because the law permits the police to use such equipment within the framework established for less-lethal weapons, but he questioned what legal authority private individuals or businesses would have to possess or sell them.
He referred to section 32 of the Firearms Act, which restricts the manufacture, sale, transfer, purchase, acquisition or possession of weapons covered by the provision without the required authority.
The Firearms (Amendment) Act 2007 also amended the penalties associated with contravening section 32, including fines and imprisonment.
Nandlall therefore argued that if tasers fall within the Act’s definition of a prohibited weapon, their unauthorised sale or possession could amount to a criminal offence.
However, whether the Guyanese courts will adopt that interpretation remains a matter for the courts to determine. Nandlall was expressing his legal view; there is no ruling from a Guyanese court establishing that tasers are prohibited weapons under the existing legislation based on the material discussed in his programme.
The issue comes as questions are being raised about the availability of tasers in Guyana and the legal framework governing their possession and use.
Source: NEW ROOMS SITE
