WILLEMSTAD - The National Innovation Party (PIN) says it has taken note that in recent times, there have been many cases where the use of guns has played a role in one way or another. Practically every week, there is one or more incidents where houses, cars, or people have been hit by bullets, says the party in a press release. “We have also noticed that when the police confront someone with a weapon, many times it's underage children who have already committed one or more serious punishable acts.” 

The party says that the situation is extremely alarming, and to protect the people here, the Minister of Justice must act now and act strongly. Both preventive measures and repressive measures need to be taken in order to clean up our streets. 

The preventive actions the party proposes are there needs to be more control at the border to prevent as much as possible the entry of more weapons. Equip the police force with, for example, dogs trained to detect weapons. Update the "preventive search" law. Provide space and give an ultimatum once again to surrender firearms without consequences for those who surrender them. 

The repressive action the party proposes is to review the law that regulates firearms and provide more space for stricter penalties. 

The National Innovation Party also wants to ask the Minister what the status is of the police ballistic laboratory. “Do we have the tools to investigate and connect weapons to crimes?” the party asks.  

They also want to know how is the oversight of the department that grants firearm permits. And regarding the confiscated weapons, the party wants to know if there is a clear view of how they entered Curaçao and where they came from. 

“In this way, we, the National Innovation Party, have brought the people's pain forward and drawn the Minister's attention to start addressing this issue as soon as possible.”