Category: Firearms

The Government of Belize’s Firearm Control Board is tonight coming under heavy criticism from gun dealers. These dealers are saying that since the board was established back in 2024 there has not been proper communication with members of the public on the changes implemented when acquiring a gun license. According to Abner Murillo, the Owner of Lock N’ Loaded, upstanding citizens like farmers and business owners are being frustrated in their attempt to gain the necessary documentation to acquire a license. Murillo says, the good is paying for the bad. He contends that the statistics paint a picture of unfair treatment.

 

Abner Murillo, Owner, Lock N’ Loaded

“Every other day we are having farmers come here that are extremely frustrated, people that are planting crops, people farming, people loosing livestock, because the changes that they brought to the firearm licensing process is extremely tedious and they are not communicating things. They went for example form requiring one ID, the policy states one ID, and we have people from Red Bank, Mennonites, they don’t have cell phones, they don’t have vehicles, they travel seven eight hours and they being turned back because they don’t have a second ID. So, stuff like that they are making it complicated and making it a bit more complicated and every time they are making changes without notifying the public. We have one of the highest crime rate in the Caribbean yet none of these are being carried out by licensed firearm holders. The streets have a lot of guns. Every week you are finding two to three rifles, AKs, high powered weapons on the streets to commit crime, yet the license firearm holders, there is about twenty-four to their thousand licensed firearm holders in the country and just based on my research and what we discussed earlier there is about three to five incidents with licensed weapons a year. That is not a one percent incident rate, that is not a point zero one percent incident rate. It is not a point zero, zero one percent incident rate. It is a point zero, zero, zero, one percent incident rate, with license firearm holders. There is a classroom and the license firearm holders are doing their homework, coming to class on time. They are the good students in the class and then you have the bad guys in the class, the ones brining the illegal guns, because it is so easy to get an illegal gun. You go anywhere in Belize and get an illegal . you go to the border and you can get an illegal gun. The bad guys are walking away free no homework and the good guys, they are saying that there is crime in the country and you all are getting detention and getting extra homework and the bad guys, hand up a thing and you can walk away.”

 

 

Gun dealer Abner Murillo says the challenges facing the industry shouldn’t be seen as a criticism of the Ministry of Home Affairs or the Police Department. He believes crime in Belize is driven by many complex factors—and licensed gun owners aren’t the root of the problem.

 

Abner Murillo, Owner, Lock N’ Loaded

“I am not bashing anyone. I think the minister of home affairs is doing an excellent job at combating crime. The previous commissioner, our beloved Chester Williams, brought crime down historically. He did contribute a lot of positive to the country. The new Commissioner Rosado, I have heard nothing but positive about him and I know he will continue that trend of brining down the crime rate. The crime in Belize has to do with, we have the highest lack of father figure in houses. We have an alcoholism culture. There is a lot that needs to be done to take down crime. It is not the police fault, not Minister Musa’s fault and the police fault. They are doing their job. But at the end of the day, we are being published, the upstanding citizens, the good kids in the class are being punished.”

 

We will continue this conversation in a subsequent newscast. You will hear how instructors and dealers are also being adversely affected.

Tonight, forty-five-year-old Travis Flowers, a coordinator with the Belize City Council’s Enforcement Department, remains behind bars—still waiting to secure bail for a second time. Flowers is accused of attempting to murder a co-worker and has been on remand for over two months. He appeared unrepresented before Chief Magistrate Deborah Rogers this morning, only to learn that his case file is still not ready. The court set his next appearance for July eleventh, when disclosures are expected to be handed over. Flowers asked the court to consider granting him bail, but because he had already been denied bail by the High Court, the Magistrate explained that the lower court could not intervene. His only option now is to reapply through the High Court—a move that carries no guarantees. Back in March, Flowers’ bail application was denied by Justice Pilgrim after multiple adjournments. He was first arraigned on March eleventh. As the legal process drags on, Flowers remains in custody, awaiting his next chance at freedom.

 

 

Akeem Elijah Tench, a forty-year-old security guard employed by Priority Security, is currently on remand at Belize Central Prison. Tench faces charges of keeping a firearm without a license and discharging a firearm in public. The incident occurred on Sunday, May fourth, 2025, when Tench allegedly fired shots to ward off intruders at his home on Vernon Street. He claimed he took his work-issued firearm home to deal with the situation. Appearing before Magistrate Ludlow Black, Tench explained that he was on duty when he received a call from his daughter about the break-in. Upon arriving home, he saw two men fleeing and fired shots. Tench pleaded guilty with an explanation, stating that his firearm was issued by his security company for use while on duty. However, there was no statement from his employer to support his claim. Magistrate Black adjourned the case until May twelfth, 2025, and remanded Tench due to the nature of the offenses. Tench expressed distress over being remanded, as he is the sole provider for his wife and daughter.

 

Loria also discussed how the B.D.F. manages weapon handling on bases, especially in situations where disputes between soldiers could escalate. He highlighted that militaries worldwide focus heavily on training and proper weapons handling. Additionally, command leaders are trained to defuse conflicts before they become serious, given the significant risks involved.

 

Brigadier General Azariel Loria, Commandant, B.D.F

“The professional firearms – the militaries around the world, well, know that it is a risky business because we do handle powerful weapons, military weapons that can hurt people if we do not properly train, if we do not know how to properly handle them. So we always emphasize on training, training, and training. And that also goes hand in hand with our leadership, our attitudes on how to ensure that whenever we have instances like that, how the patrol commanders will be able to face, confront a situation like that. It’s one of the many risks of our profession, of professional military arms that we have to deal with, hence the reason we continue to train, maintain our training readiness so that when we go out there on operations, we can also maintain our operational readiness.”