[Rainbow Demon]

Pond says

Jamaica allows people to own guns.
Do you really want to see if they have a low murder rate?

http://web.archive.org/web/200805100...IES_DRY_UP.asp

According to the source, just under 700 firearm licences are approved each year and nearly half of those are issued to private security guard companies.



All applicants for licensed firearms are checked out by the police and once they meet a set of criteria, are given a 90-day permit by the divisional police superintendent. The applicant is given a firearm licence booklet on production of a receipt from a licensed firearm dealer indicating that he/she has paid for a certain model and calibre gun and ammunition. The booklet is then taken back to the dealer to collect the firearm and the holder must return to the police with the gun for inspection.
Each licence costs $1,000 and expires on March 31 every year.

If the firearm is not purchased within the 90-day period, the holder will have to submit a new application which may or may not be approved by the police.
But since February this year, hundreds of persons who have received firearm licences have been waiting to make a purchase.

One man who received his permit last month expressed his concern to the Sunday Observer that he could lose it unless he is able to acquire a gun by the end of December.
"The police allow you, by law, just three months to acquire the gun. If you fail within that period, the permit is automatically cancelled. That will force me to start the long process of applying for a next permit all over again," he said, unable to disguise his frustration.
He said he had tried the three licensed gun dealers on the island, but none of them had any firearms in stock.

The common man, the ones most vulnerable to criminal assaults simply can not afford the licensing fees to obtain a firearm.
The stated intent of the firearms laws in Jamaica is to eliminate firearms from the society. They intend to regulate gun ownership out of existence.

from Wiki

Prime Minister Michael Manley expressed his determination to take stronger action against firearms, predicting that "It will be a long war. No country can win a war against crime overnight, but we shall win. By the time we have finished with them, Jamaican gunmen will be sorry they ever heard of a thing called a gun."[2] In order to win this war, Manley believed it necessary to disarm the whole public: "There is no place in this society for the gun, now or ever."[3]

And what effect have these draconian gun laws had on availability of weapons to the criminal and political gangsters?

National Concerns

In spite of persistent efforts by Jamaica’s law enforcement officials, the smuggling of arms into the country, often by ingenious methods, continues to be of serious concern. The trade in illicit weapons is linked to the illicit drug trade, as guns are often exchanged for drugs and also used by “gang members” to reinforce and protect their turf and contraband from their rivals.

The rise in violent crimes has subsequently led to the increase in private firearm permit holders and the mushrooming of private security firms. As of December 2004, there were approximately 50,000 licensed firearm holders in the country.