A joint security team has concluded registration and fingerprinting of all guns in Kampala Metropolitan Areas.
The exercise involves capturing the data of each individual gun and marching it with the holder. The data will be interpreted and stored using the Integrated Ballistic Systems (IBIS), which was procured to strengthen the police’s forensic department.
Deputy Police Spokesperson, Polly Namaye told a weekly police press briefing at Naguru Police headquarters on Monday that a team comprising of the army, police, Uganda Prison Service,Uganda Wildlife Authority,External Security Organization and Internal Security Organisation, have worked closely with other relevant authorities to register all guns within Kampala Metropolitan Area.
“So far, the team has registered all guns in the hands of the Police Force, Prisons Service, Private security and those privately licensed within Kampala Metropolitan Area,” Namaye said.
She added that the exercise will be rolled to Katonga region beginning today Tuesday, April 16.
Namaye is optimistic that the registration will ease the task of tracking guns. She equally cautioned that as part of the process, the team will fire bullets from each gun in order to get its unique characteristics, adding that the public should not be alarmed at the sound of gunshots.
By December 2016, records at Internal Affairs Ministry indicated more than 19,000 guns were legally in possession by civilians and private security companies. Out of 19,000 guns, about 3000 were in the hands of civilians mainly politicians, businesspersons while over 16,000 were in private security companies.
The national gun registration and fingerprinting exercise commenced in September last year in Kampala Metropolitan Areas.
The exercise that’s being done on a roll out basis is intended to address gun related crimes by easing investigation and tracking of guns used in the shooting incidents.
The gun registration exercise is part of the enhanced security measures to curb down the rampant cases of high profile shootings that have robbed the country of Police Spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi, Prosecutor Joan Kagezi, Buyende DPC Muhammad Kirumira and a number of Muslim clerics, gunned down in cold blood of recent.
