Gun owners face tougher license screening

Gun owners face tougher license screening

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta Police are acting on the assumption that although you
might not be able to judge a person's character by their
appearance, you should be able to gain some insight into an
individual's potential for criminal behavior from their
handwriting.

Police are hoping that graphology, the science of analyzing
handwriting, will be a useful tool not only in uncovering cases
of forgery, but also in providing a significant and accurate
analysis of an individual's personality in deciding whether to
grant someone a license to own and carry a firearm.

City police announced on Friday a plan suggested by
psychologists and other experts on human behavior to tighten
existing procedures in obtaining or renewing a gun license
through additional behavior assessment and graphology tests.

Police plan to use psychiatric evaluations to determine
whether a gun owner might have a tendency toward psychopathic,
paranoid or sadistic behavior and therefore represent a danger to
public safety.

They also plan to analyze the handwriting of each person
applying for a new license or a renewal of a current gun license.
Police assert that through the use of graphology, they will be
able to detect latent personality disorders that would make the
person a danger to others if he or she is armed.

City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said the policy was
introduced in view of several shooting incidents in the capital
over the past several months.

"The number of cases where firearms have been misused is
increasing. That's why the chief has issued the order that such
tests should be done," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

He cited an incident in August 2004, in which a popular
comedian, Parto, fired his gun into the air in the lobby of
Planet Hollywood restaurant; another on New Year's Day, in which
businessman Adiguna Sutowo allegedly shot and killed a waiter at
a Hilton Hotel bar, and most recently the shooting of a thug
hired to protect a disputed plot of land on Jl. HR Rasuna Said by
public order officer Krisman Siregar.

City police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani explained that in
order to reduce the occurrence of violent crimes, "Now, we will
not only administer the standard psychological test that we have
been using. Under this new plan, every gun owner will have to
pass a series of tests, including behavior assessment and
graphology analysis".

Firman told reporters at his office on Friday that such
evaluations could determine how an individual applying for a gun
license, or an extension of an existing license, might respond
under pressure, and what tendencies that person might exhibit. If
the tests indicate that they might act violently, then they will
not be issued with a license.

"Even though we have been applying the tightest of procedures
in licensing guns, the police and the city public order office
also have to make sure that licensed gun owners do not abuse
their right to carry arms," Firman said. (001)