By Staff Reporter WINDHOEK The Congress of Democrats (CoD) has called for an urgent review of existing laws regulating the issuance and ownership of firearms by members of the public. The call follows a recent shooting incident at Kondjeni Bottle Store at the Single Quarters in Katutura, where 36-year-old Jekonia Hamukoto fired bullets at random, killing three people and injuring another three purportedly because he was missing his cellphone. The shooting of the six people at Kondjeni Bottle Store, commonly also known as Shiwandu Shebeen in the Katutura Single Quarters, enraged a lot of people especially because the supposedly missing Samsung cellphone was found in one of Hamukoto’s pockets after he had committed the killings. To avoid this kind of tragic incident in the future, the government should consider banning gun ownership, suggests a statement from the office of the CoD president, Ben Ulenga. “The available background information on the tragic incident clearly indicates that issuing authorities need to apply stricter criteria when issuing firearms to members of the public,” the statement further reads. It adds that members of the public should not be armed in public places such as shebeens, shops and theatres. Hamukoto’s weapon was confiscated once before by the police, given a history that he once threatened to shoot people. CoD also further condemned last year’s shooting incident at Onderombapa in the Omaheke region where Mervin Kavara was shot dead. The incident took place when a group of the community objected to the coronation of a senior traditional councillor and expressed its unhappiness with that ceremony. Shots were fired at random, and Kavara was hit in the crossfire. “This catastrophic shooting incident calls for a reflection on the general crime situation. The crime rate needs to be brought down. There is an urgent need to review the laws regulating the ownership of firearms and the general access people have to guns and other dangerous weapons,” says the CoD statement.