Kuwaiti unlicensed arms collection bill sent to legislative, defense panel

The National Assembly, in its regular session on Tuesday, referred to a joint panel from members of the Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee and the Interior and Defense Affairs Committee a number of amendments to the unlicensed firearms and ammunition collection bill.
The amendments, proposed by MPs, envisage tougher penalties on the possessors of unlicensed arms and ammunition.
The MPs proposed that anyone possessing unlicensed firearms and ammunition could be jailed for five years -- instead of the current three years -- and be fined KD 5,000 -- instead of the current KD 3,000 -- or one of the two penalties.
The amendments also seek increasing the jail time to ten instead of seven years and raising the upper limits on fine from KD 20.000 to KD 50,000 for anyone who deals (i.e. buying or selling) in unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
The bill, approved by the parliament in its first reading on January 14, allows police, after taking proper authorization from the public prosecutor, to search any public location and private or public vehicles suspected to have unlicensed or unlawful firearms or ammunition.
It also stipulates that people with unlicensed firearms and ammunition who choose to hand them in to authorities would be exempted from punishment.