00:00Minister in the Ministry of Public Utilities, Clyde Elder, told the House of Representatives that his father and older sister were at home one day in 2016 when two boys entered his father's house demanding money which his father told them he did not have.
00:16He used a cutlass and they attempted to strike a blow at my father's neck and he defended himself by raising his hand.
00:35And as he raised his hand, Madam Deputy Speaker, one of the bones in his arms was completely chopped and the other one was fractured severely.
00:52Minister Elder said his father had to seek medical attention and the police held two suspects.
00:58The charge that those two gentlemen faced certainly was not a home invasion charge.
01:05The charge that they faced was inflicting grievous bodily harm.
01:12That was the charge that they faced.
01:17And of course when they went to court, because of the court system then, which we are fixing now, those two young men got off.
01:29Minister Elder was speaking in support of the government's 2025 Home Invasion, Self-Defense and Defense of Property Bill.
01:38During a late night debate, MP Christian Birchwood raised the opposition's concerns about the bill.
01:45I would have went to bed one night with my cell phone next to my head and I would have woken up with my SIM card next to my head.
01:56Some items missing and, in addition to that, some jewelry missing.
02:06No amount of access to guns, weapons or anything of that nature would have provided any comfort in that situation.
02:21And the MP Birchwood made reference to studies done in the U.S.
02:27Utilizing FBI data, Madam Speaker, Roman 2013 and their later work showed that they found white-on-black killings were far more likely to be ruled as justified
02:43as compared to black-on-white killings under the very same standard-ground regimes.
02:50Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath challenged the opposition's objections to the bill.
02:56When they come speaking on both sides of their mouths, cannot put together a coherent argument as to why they don't support the legislation.
03:05They go to their fallback position of what? Fear-mongering and race-beating.
03:14Opposition MP Karim Marcel recalls something the government said would occur in addition to the bill.
03:20So you're holding up this and you're telling the country, this is the solution to our problem.
03:27When only 25,000 citizens can benefit from same in terms of defending themselves with firearms, which is less than 1.8% of our population.
03:41After the Attorney General wound up the debate, a vote count was taken.
03:46Prime Minister Kamala Pasad-Bissessa was present.
03:49The opposition MPs did not support the bill, which was passed via the government's majority.
03:54The self-defense and home invasion bill goes before the Senate for debate early next week.
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