The Interagency Committee Against the Illegal Traffic of Firearms is hereby established without prejudice or impairment of the obligations and powers that rest on the Superintendent. This Committee shall be constituted by the Secretary of the Department of Justice, who shall preside; the Superintendent of Police; the Secretary of the Treasury; the Secretary of the Department of State, the Secretary of the Department of Education, the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Public [Works], the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Executive Director of the Courts administration, and the Executive Director of the Ports Authority; a Director in Puerto Rico of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; a representative of the target shooting sport and a representative of the hunting sport, both certified by the Target Shooting and Hunting Federations of Puerto Rico, respectively, and appointed by the Secretary of the Sports and Recreation Department; and a citizen who shall represent the public interest, who shall be selected and appointed by consensus of the officials who constitute the Committee.
The Committee shall primarily be in charge of the evaluation of the problem of the illegal importing, traffic and use of arms and ammunition in Puerto Rico, in order to detect, and eliminate points, places or circumstances that propitiate the introduction and illegal traffic of these arms and ammunition.
It shall also be the responsibility of the Committee to design effective coordinated action plans to achieve the purposes listed above, and to improve the weapons and ammunitions registration and control systems in Puerto Rico.
The Committee shall examine, review and make the pertinent recommendations to the Governor of Puerto Rico and the Legislature on the legislative measures, provisions or norms that should be subject to revision, repeal, or adjustment, in order to fight the importing and illegal traffic of arms and ammunitions.
The Committee shall adopt regulations for its internal operations and their decisions shall be adopted by majority vote.
The Committee shall give priority and establish viable and adequate mechanisms to identify the method and frequency that arms and ammunitions are imported to Puerto Rico, and their origin. The Committee shall also take measures or state its recommendations for the maritime transportation companies and the moving companies to compile and make reliable information available to the Committee on the traffic, importing and exporting of arms and ammunitions, that will facilitate the fulfillment of the objectives of this chapter.
It shall be the obligation of the Secretary of Justice, as chairperson and on behalf of the Committee, to render an annual report to the Legislature with his recommendations on the adoption of said regulations on or before the 31st day of January of each year.
History —Sept. 11, 2000, No. 404, § 2.15; Jan. 10, 2002, No. 27, § 12; Dec. 8, 2002, No. 274, § 1; May 31, 2004, No. 125, § 1; May 19, 2008, No. 64, § 1.