THE National Alliance for Transformation (NTA) has urged that politicians should be distanced from the process of granting firearms user's licences (FULs).

It did so in a statement on Wednesday after Tuesday's Senate debate on the Firearm Users (Amendment) Bill, which would allow the Prisons Commissioner and Strategic Services Agency (SSA) director to grant FULs, which may now be granted only by the Commissioner of Police (CoP).

The NTA, which is led by former police commissioner Gary Griffith, said the prison and police services were independent bodies with relevant legislation and infrastructure to manage processes such as issuing FULs, but the party had a different view of the SSA.

It warned, "The NTA joins the independent senators of Parliament in expressing our concerns about the head of the SSA having this unregulated power, with the only oversight being Parliament and the National Security Council, which are both made up (of) and run by politicians, who could then perhaps do such things as appeal to the head of the SSA for licences for friends and colleagues."

The party alleged such appeals for FULs had been made in the past by high-ranking public officials when Gary Griffith was Commissioner of Police.

Its view, it said, was "not an attack on the present head of the SSA, but a warning that such a precedent could lead to chaos, since politicians choose the head of the SSA, and some time in the future we could see a head who falls victim to political dictates.

"This again highlights the most dangerous part of the bill, that is, government interference and overreach, which when viewed with the context of the merit list fiasco, where the Prime Minister went to President's House and met with then Police Service Commission chair Bliss Seepersad."

Alleging that Griffith had been illegally suspended, plus constant attacks on his character over legal firearms, the NTA argued, "Citizens are forced to conclude that the reason for the ‘Get Gary’campaign was to have the final political say in who gets and keeps legal firearms, a frightening thought, especially since this Rowley-led government has repeatedly signalled undemocratic, dictatorial leanings."

The statement alleged that Tuesday's debate revealed several things, including the Government’s intention to inject the Minister of National Security into the process of issuing firearms licences, now the sole discretion of the CoP.

"And if we recall, NTA political leader and former commissioner of police, Gary Griffith, complained that attempts were made by senior government officials, to coerce him into issuing licences to certain persons, closely aligned to these officials.

"Unable to control Griffith, and still reeling from the failed efforts to discredit him, re the issuance of firearms licences, it seems they have now resorted to the next best thing, legislating political interference into the process."

In the Senate, Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds withdrew the bill's proposal for the minister of national security to be able