Turks and Caicos revises firearms law after arrests of several Americans

Turks and Caicos is revising part of its firearms law that recently caused legal trouble for several Americans carrying ammunition into the British Overseas Territory, House of Assembly member Edwin Astwood said in a statement Friday.

Turks and Caicos is revising part of its firearms law that recently caused legal trouble for several Americans carrying ammunition into the British Overseas Territory, House of Assembly member Edwin Astwood said in a statement Friday. The revision comes weeks after a bipartisan US congressional delegation traveled to the islands asking for charges to be dropped for five Americans whom they said “inadvertently” had ammunition in their luggage. It is a crime to bring firearms or ammunition into the territory without prior permission from police. The amendment passed by the House of Assembly on June 14 clarifies that in sentencing for firearms-related offenses, courts have the discretion to impose either a fine, a custodial sentence, or a mixture of both in exceptional circumstances, the statement read. Previously, the law mandated courts to impose both a fine and a prison sentence of 12 years, although it allowed reduced sentences under “exceptional circumstances.” “The amendment was introduced to address concerns about the rigidity of the previous sentencing framework, which mandated both imprisonment and financial penalties for all firearms offenses, regardless of the specific context or severity. This often resulted in disproportionately harsh sentences that did not always fit the nature of the crime or the circumstances of the offender,” Astwood said.