No gun amnesty: PM Manning

Prime Minister Patrick Manning has rejected the idea of a gun amnesty, dismissing calls for proactive action to deal with the growing number of the weapons in the country.

Most murders are committed with illegal guns and there is a prevalence of other gun crimes. The issue moved to the front burner earlier this week with the theft of 13 guns from a private security firm.

"The matter has been discussed and the conclusion has been that when you set up a gun amnesty and you pay people to return guns, all you are doing is funding newer guns than they bring in," Manning told the Trinidad Guardian, adding that an amnesty is not the thing to do.

The prime minister acknowledged that there are a lot of illegal guns in the country and said he regrets the killings. However he noted that there are many alternatives to crime.

While Manning rejects the idea many other countries have successfully collected illegal guns during a specific period of amnesty. And in many instances the deal never involved money.

In October 2008 the Toronto police introduced a "Pixels for Pistols" program that offered digital cameras and free photography lessons for anyone who turned in a gun during the month-long amnesty. Within 12 days, police collected 200 guns, some of which were licensed firearms.

Read about the program

By the end of the program, the police had recovered more than 900 guns. The police chief was so encouraged by the campaign that he extended it for an extra week.

The police chief in Trinidad and Tobago had tried a form of amnesty that didn't work. That program was in conjunction with churches and gangs operating in the city.

It encouraged young people to turn away from a life of crime and embrace religion in exchange for a review of their life of crime and an offer of jobs.