Today, we asked the Commissioner about Efrain Rejon, the Independence businessman who was charged for aggravated assault with a firearm last week. This is after he allegedly pulled his .223 rifle on a crew of road workers on the Coastal Highway. The men withdrew the charge in court - but Rejon's big rifle is still in limbo.
He actually holds three gun licenses: a 9MM pistol, a pump 12 shotgun and the 223 rifle.
The commissioner said police should hold all the weapons pending review:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I have already instructed the police not to return any of those weapons to Mr Rejon and even though the complainants had gone to court and withdrew the matter, we will write to the firearms and ammunition control board and seek their intervention to have the license revoked."
Courtney Menzies:
"You had been the one who issued the licenses in the first place, what was your justification to allow Rejon to have these guns?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Again, you're wrong. Some of them he got under me and he also got under the previous commissioner. But again, everything happen, you all blame Chester. I think Jules loves me, tell him I love him too."
Courtney Menzies:
"We all love you, sir."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"But at the end of the day there's nothing in law to say that a person cannot have 2, 3, 4, or 5 guns. I have said to you, there is a man who has 20 gun licenses. None of them were issued by me. You all don't make an issue out of that. And even though he has 20, nothing about that. There are a number of persons who have 18, 19, 17 and it's not an issue because there's nothing in the law. So I don't understand why every time there is an incident where a person has more than one gun licenses, you all make an issue out of it. There's nothing in law to precent any person for having that. A person may have a gun for sports hunting, they may have one for farming, they may have one for special protection, they may have for different reasons, some people are gun enthusiasts, some people are collectors, they have guns for different reasons. So we cannot just look at things on the face of it and then we try to impute proper motives on anybody."
Courtney Menzies:
"Seeing as though this is the second case, the first is Brandon Gillett, where he also pulled out a .223 and threatened violence in public, do you feel like there should be some type of limit since you're saying some people have 20, so much guns, there should be a limit on the number of licenses, especially as it relates to these powerful weapons."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I would agree with you that maybe parliament should look at that, put a limit on the amount of licenses a person can have at any given time, that, I think, would make sense."
Our information is that all of Rejon's three licenses were issued after 2020 - which is when Commissioner Williams took office.
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