Firearm Crimes May Get More Punishment
by Rod Hughes
Crimes in which firearms are used may receive more severe sentences than those which do not, if Independent congress woman Evita Arguedas is able to get her bill passed in the Legislative Assembly. She would also see the courts more severely punish repeat offenders and crimes committed against residences when the family is home.
The bill is similar to that of many states in the United States but in years past Costa Rican lawmakers have not seen the need because such crimes utilizing guns have not been common. But in the first six months of this year, 125 of the 166 homicides committed were with the use of firearms. In the past five months, police have confiscated 2,600 firearms, including AK-47 fully automatic rifles.
Civilian ownership of such weapons was, up until the 1980s, relatively rare here except for a few small caliber rifles for hunting in the rural areas. But during the Nicaraguan civil war, automatic weapons trickled over the border, often borne by wounded Contra rebels or Sandinista army regulars. They often “paid” for their treatment in the San Carlos hospital by giving doctors their automatic weapons and other arms.
Reputedly, one could buy an AK-47 for a few dollars at Ciudad Quesada at that time. Even after the Arias Peace Plan bore fruit, the guns floated around the country, easily finding their way into criminal hands. As violent crimes increased and drugs crept into the society, homeowner handguns became more common in urban areas, often with tragic results when children found them.
Firearm laws have been tightened up meanwhile so that ownership of automatic rifles, handgrenades and other war material are no longer legal in private hands.President Oscar Arias has even expressed a desire to eliminate automatic weapons from police possession but this is not likely to happen since the massacre and hostage standoff at the bank in Monteverde several years ago.
Arguedas’s reform of the Penal Code has the backing of Deputy Minister of Public Security Rafael Angel Gutierrez who especially likes the repeat offender clause. “This will be an opportunity to pass (the responsibility) ti the tribunals those individuals and have them judged from recidivism instead of seeing them released,” he said, voicing the bitter complaint of both police and crime victims.
The congresswoman has appealed to victims of violent crimes and their families to support the Penal Code reform as relatives of traffic accident victims did in support of the Traffic Bill when they flooded lawmakers with tens of thousands of signatures on petitions. La Nacion, the nation’s leading newspaper, cited as examples Flora Gonzalez and Jose Fabio Lopez who lost a daughter and a son, respectively, in assaults with firearms.