P.N.G. to allow Mace protection

Press, 1 July 1985, Page 12

P.N.G. to allow Mace protection

NZPA-AAP Port Moresby The Papau New Guinea Government will allow approved people to have Mace gas in their homes to incapacitate attackers. New laws were also foreshadowed providing for repatriation of long-term urban unemployed to their villages and also making association with habitual criminals a serious offence. The Police Minister, Mr Denis Young, told a press conference that the Firearms Act would be amended to allow people to have Mace and similar chemical deterrents in their homes. It would be made available through the police on licence. “Being able to have mace will give people confidence, particularly the women,” Mr Young said.

Asked if there was a danger the gas could fall into the hands of criminals, Mr Young said the licensing system would be strictly administered. He said there would also be harsh penalties for carrying the gas, which comes in aerosol spray cans, outside of licensed premises.

The repatriation measures would be directed at people found in suspicious circumstances or “associating with criminals and undesirable people.” Orders to send people back to their villages would be made through the courts. Legislation allowing the Cabinet to declare a curfew in a specific area for a set time without declaring the kind of state of emergency now in force in Port Moresby was also being drawn up.-