And, sticking to the subject of gun licenses, the press also asked the Commissioner about the one granted to the now-deceased Kurtis Usher, a man who'd already been charged with illegal gun possession.
The COMPOL blamed his predecessor for that one. He also told the press that he was watching Usher's court cases carefully to see when and if he'd have an opportunity to revoke his license.
Chester Williams, Comissioner of Police
"Well, um yes indeed when the police arrived at the shooting scene and he was examined he did have on him a 9mm Smith and Wesson pistol which is licensed to him and I can say definitely that that gun license was not issued by me it was issued to him in 2013 by the previous commissioner, not by me and as the Commissioner I don't have the authority to revoke a license just like that. Certainly, yes I was looking at the, um, the progress of the case he had before the court and once he would have been convicted for that offence where he was charged with keeping an unlicensed firearm then I would have gone for revocation because the firearm act tells you that once you are convicted for a firearm offence it's a grounds for revocation, we did not arrive at that stage as yet and so his licensee was still with him, um, I have revoked many licenses under those circumstances and as I said contrary to what some people were trying to make the public believe that it was me who issued the gun license it was not issued by me."
For clarity, in the past the Commissioner has told us that once a person is criminally charged for ANYTHING - he revokes their gun license. In this case, he said he was waiting for a conviction.
