A bill giving Police the power to detain gun suspects for a month without charge got the backing of MPs in the House of Assembly on Friday.

Police previously had 72 hours to charge or release those arrested for firearms or ammunition offences — but now they can apply for a warrant of detention to hold them for an extra 14 days and make a second application for a further 14-day extension.

The new powers are contained in the Firearms Amendment Act 2010, which was passed unopposed after Junior Justice Minister Michael Scott agreed to the removal of a section which would have allowed Police to use the extra time to question suspects.

Bermuda Democratic Alliance MP Mark Pettingill said holding a person for longer than 72 hours could be deemed unreasonable in law and any defence lawyer worth his salt would argue that a confession given after more than three days in custody was obtained unfairly and should be thrown out.

"The gun criminal will go free," he said. "We are setting ourselves up to fail because we are going to run into a serious problem with these provisions as drafted."

He said holding suspects for extended periods without charge for questioning was what the Americans did at Guantánamo Bay in the face of international outrage and couldn't be allowed to happen here.

"That's frightening that we are going to try and pass that as law. That must go. We can't draft laws here that obviate our Constitution.

"We have to make sure that we don't do it and fly in the face of everything that we have accomplished over so many years."

He urged that the bill be changed so that Police can only use the extended detention time for the purposes of gathering evidence or obtaining forensic results and not for questioning.

Another change he proposed — and also agreed by Government — was that officers applying for the warrants of detention will have to swear an affidavit.

The initial draft of the bill required Police to support their application with "an information" but Mr. Pettingill said that term was inappropriate and didn't provide strong enough grounds to justify as significant a measure as holding a person for more than 72 hours.

Junior Justice Minister Michael Scott, introducing the bill, said the "extended period of pre-charge detention" was modelled on a similar provision in the UK Terrorism Act 2006.

The British law allows terrorist suspects to be held for a maximum period of 28 days without charge.

Mr. Scott said the dramatic rise in gun violence in Bermuda in the last two years warranted the change to the law here.

"While these provisions may be perceived by some to be an infringement of civil liberties, such measures are necessary for the protection of members of the public and the interest of justice," he said.

United Bermuda Party MP John Barritt said if his party had pushed for the legislation it would have been accused of wanting to "lock up those black boys and throw away the key".

"That was what was said at the last election when we started to talk of criminal reform," he said. "It's only done when it's politically convenient or expedient."

The new Police powers of detention will expire at the end of 2013, unless the Justice Minister seeks to extend them. The original draft bill allowed the Minister to do that by simply posting a notice in the Official Gazette.

But Mr. Barritt, the Opposition spokesman for legislative and public administration reform, said such a step ought to be approved in the House.

Government agreed to amend the legislation so it includes the affirmative resolution procedure, meaning MPs will have to agree to an extension of the Police powers beyond 2013.

Health Minister Walter Roban, who is also Junior Public Safety Minister, said Public Safety Minister David Burch and Police backed the change to the law.

He said Government should be applauded for swiftly bringing legislation to the House to tackle gun crime. "It's not for us to drag our feet on procedure when people are dying in the streets.

"We bring this for our Country. We bring this for our people. We as Government and as legislators must be prepared to push the envelope."

He cited the rape and murder of Canadian teenager Rebecca Middleton in 1996 as a case where charges were brought against suspects before DNA evidence was obtained.

No one has ever been found guilty of her murder and Mr. Roban said that in the rush to secure a conviction mistakes were made.

"Everybody in this House, this Country, was traumatised by it. I would argue that we don't want that sort of thing to happen again."

He said forensic evidence played a crucial role in many crimes and Police needed the "room and the latitude" to properly obtain it.

He argued that though the new law wasn't aimed at terrorists, "guns are weapons of mass destruction". "The security of this Country is paramount," added Mr. Roban.

Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards supported the remarks of Mr. Pettingill and said the House should pay attention to someone who worked in the field of criminal law every day.

"He works to get people off so if he tells me he can get people off, I'm really paying attention to what he's saying."

Mr. Richards suggested that one simple measure the Government could take to reduce gun crime was to introduce more closed-circuit television cameras. "What we are approving here today, what we are debating here today, is only one piece. We have to deal with the other pieces as well."

BDA MP Shawn Crockwell said MPs found themselves in a quandary because they appreciated the need to stop gun crime but also the need to protect the constitutional rights and civil liberties of citizens.

"The question then becomes: how do we find that balance?" he said. "The fact is that if we are going to adequately address these serious problems in our Country then people in Bermuda have to appreciate that there is going to be some uncomfortableness.

"The question that we have to grapple with today is: how far are we prepared to go?"

He said he agreed with his party colleague Mr. Pettingill that MPs had to ensure they did not go too far, even though "we have had assassination-style murders, we have had gangster-style murders in this Country, in our streets".

Mr. Crockwell said his party supported and applauded what Government was trying to do but hoped it would agree to the proposed amendments to make sure "we get it right".

Government backbencher Wayne Perinchief said: "Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures."

He said he supported any attempt to bring to book those responsible for "murder and mayhem" but had reservations about some aspects of the bill.

The former assistant Police commissioner said though he would have liked the luxury of detaining suspects for 28 days, or even seven days, when he was an investigator, it was vital to ensure human rights were not being infringed.

Mr. Perinchief also spoke of the need for witness protection legislation, which he said was on the way.

PLP MP Dale Butler said: "At the moment, it seems like the criminals have all of the rights."

He said in the past people would come forward with information about crimes they had witnessed but that had changed — and the Police had to be given the power to solve crime.

"We have no choice but to pass this bill today," he added.

His party colleague Wayne Furbert agreed. "We have to pass this amendment today and I'm hoping that the Opposition and the BDA comes along with the Government on this particular issue.

"We can either sit here and do nothing or we can finally send out a message to say we are doing something."

Mr. Furbert said the people of Bermuda wanted the new law and it could be amended at a later date if necessary.