ANY prison officer whose life is considered to be at-risk, may be granted permission to carry his/her firearm while off duty, according to the proposed Firearms (Amendment) Bill 2022 introduced to the House of Representatives on Friday in the name of Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds.

An explanatory note to the bill said to it will empower the commissioner of prisons to permit an off-duty prison officer to possess a firearm or ammunition if the commissioner "considers the life or safety of the officer is under threat." The bill said in such cases the commissioner must issue to the prison officer a prison service firearm identification card.

The bill also lets municipal police officers posses tasers to do their job plus a prohibited weapon able to discharge a "noxious liquid, gas or thing," seemingly a reference to pepper spray.

The bill will also let municipal police officers and Strategic Services Agency (SSA) officers to be in possession of a firearm and ammunition in a public place.

Officers who may possess a firearm and ammunition to conduct their duties will be: police officers, municipal police officers, members of the defence force, customs officers, prison officers and the director and officers of the SSA.

However the bill also proposes stringent penalties for abuse of these firearms, namely life imprisonment.

The notes said, "A municipal police officer and the director and any employee of the Strategic Services Agency, who sells or transfers a firearm or ammunition to any other person who does not hold or who is not exempted from holding a firearm user’s licence (FUL), or who purchases or acquires any firearm or ammunition, is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life."

The bill proposes to allow the minister to be allowed to extend the validity of an FUL beyond a three-year period specified.

Under the bill, the FUL will be set out in the form of a firearm users identification card. This will include the FUL number, the FUL holder's name and address plus photograph, electronic security features, further particulars as the commissioner of police (CoP) may decide, and "any other conditions" the CoP may determine.