Security firms allowed to use firearms
DOHA: Private security agencies will now be allowed to buy, import directly or hire arms and ammunitions for use from the Ministry of Interior provided they fulfill a set of strict criteria to be decided by the Interior Minister.
Staff members of a private security agency will, however, require special licences from the Interior Ministry to use a gun.
The manager of a security company which buys or hires weapons will be responsible for their safekeeping.
All private security firms will need special permits from the Interior Ministry to operate.
The manager of such a firm is to be essentially a former Qatari policeman or from any public security agency, including the army, navy or air force.
The Interior Minister can, though, exempt a company from this condition.
The Deputy Emir and Heir Apparent, H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, yesterday endorsed a law (No. 19 of 2009) which comes into force after being published in the official gazette.
The law seeks to regulate the working of private security companies. An agency within the Interior Ministry will be responsible for enforcing the law, providing permits to private security firms and regularly monitoring their activities.
Non-Qatari staff members of a private security firm will be required to be minimum 18 years of age and have work experience in a public or private security agency.
They will need to produce a police clearance certificate which must be endorsed by the Qatari embassy in their native countries.
They will undergo special medical checkups at the Interior Ministry and their job contracts will be endorsed by the agency concerned at the Interior Ministry.
A private security company must have a logo and special uniform for their staff, but the uniform should not ape a public security agency’s staff uniform.
Companies will be given permits to operate in areas they specify (Doha, Al Wakra, Al Rayan, for example) and will not be allowed to change the area of their operation without the Interior Ministry’s permission.
The duration of the permit issued to a private security firm will be three years renewable for similar periods thereafter.
A private security firm must be 100 percent Qatari-owned and its owner or owners would have no criminal record or record of any conviction.
No such firm will be allowed to provide security consultancy services.
The law also specifies severe punishment for violations of its provisions which includes jail terms from a month to a year and/or fines ranging from QR20,000 to QR100,000.
The Peninsula
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&sub...
What the hell for?
Why would this be needed in Qatar?
Why would you let some trigger happy 18 year old guard, with all the wonderful benifits of Qatari on the job 'training', loose with a gun?
I guess after they shoot down the Indian bachelors, we might have the traditional "sword" dance. Akin to the American Indian Victory dance.
Come to think of it, it might be good way to reduce the large expat(or Indian) population, that is so deroding the traditional values.
With all the gore, Dracula might enjoy keeping count.
Too many Indians and so little Cowboys..:(
Cowboys shooting guns at Indians on the plains. LOL
"Everything in this book may be wrong." Illusions: The Adventures of The Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
Well it make family day interesting at city center... dead indians on the grass outside...
The Wild West for sure...
But instead of the horses, we have the deadly Land cruisers...and now guns in the hands of a"crazed" (?) few.
Will the general population,especially the bachelors, have to walk around in bullet proof vests?.
Now we can hear gun shots in doha.... This is lacking resonable thought...
This is insane, as soon as you introduce firearms into a country people get shot....
...'well I thought he was going to hurt my family and it was dark, only later after I shot him I realised he was a 6 year old kid.....'
good question, heero!
What large issue in Qatar has come up to the point that the country needs ammunitions? Has there been any bank robbery these days (other than fraud and corruption which always cannot be caught at gunpoint, that is)?
"Everything in this book may be wrong." Illusions: The Adventures of The Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
Educating the population would be an alternative and would make guns obsolete, because only idiots use them against idiots or those whom they consider being idiots.
Terrible, terrible decision. Give people guns and people get shot. Just look at America.
I bet all those guards at City Centre on a Family Day are now practicing their "You feeling lucky, punk?" accents.
If you can make it past the escalators you can merge into the crowd, but your companion is not so lucky, as his slumped figure slowly descends to ground level.
"Deaths in the Bible. God - 2,270,365
not including the victims of Noah's flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, or the
many plagues, famines, fiery serpents, etc because no specific numbers
were given. Satan - 10."
Regulations are not always a bad thing..
Imagine these dumb ass donkey security guards now with guns. It would only happen here in Doha. But considering the amount of uneducated terrorist with guns nowday. It only proves sense to give guns to uneducated lowest paid security guards in the Middle East. How scary is this… typical Arab mentality again in action.
Power to the non believers, it’s a great feeling to have and hold.
Valium..I need my Valium!
Wild East, if you don't mind.
Like it could develop into a touch of the Wild West