The Hon. Major General (Rtd.) Aruna Jayasekera - Deputy Minister of Defence
The Deputy Minister said the Government reviewed firearms issued for personal protection from 1 January 2025, after assuming office in November 2024, with the objective of regulating issuance and limiting individuals to one firearm. He noted deficiencies in past record-keeping that made some firearm issuances difficult to trace, including those issued to politicians. He said the matter had been discussed at the National Security Council, the President had given directions, and the Government would amend the law and introduce stricter rules on issuance and use, coordinated by the Ministries of Defence and Public Security while studying practices in developed countries.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Thank you, Hon. Member. Hon. Speaker, we conducted a review on firearms. It was after we assumed office on 20.11.2024, and it was carried out from 01.01.2025. The aim was to regulate firearms issued for personal protection and to ensure only one firearm per individual. This is a complex subject. Our Government is approaching it with responsibility and deep understanding. We collected many facts: in which periods firearms were issued; what was issued to politicians; and we found that, in certain past periods, records and accounting were not maintained. We cannot trace some issuance points due to lack of data. Therefore, we are now regularizing and taking swift action. We discussed this also at the National Security Council, and the Hon. President gave directions. We will amend the law quickly and ensure proper regulation—on issuance and usage—with stringent rules, coordinating both the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Public Security. We are also studying procedures used in developed countries regarding issuance.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Thursday, 19 February 2026 ·No. 23328 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Major General (Rtd.) Aruna Jayasekera - Deputy Minister of Defence. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 19 February 2026. No. 23328. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/30283