Comments made in the House of Assembly on Friday by Bermuda Democratic Alliance MP Mark Pettingill were called "offensive" and "ignorant" in a posting on the Premier's Facebook page.

During the House debate on a law aimed at gun crime Mr. Pettingill – quoting famous apartheid opponent Bishop Desmond Tutu – likened it to laws passed during the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Under the new law, Police will be able to hold firearms suspects without charge for up to 31 days for the purposes of gathering evidence or obtaining forensic results but not for questioning.

Mr. Pettingill insisted that the reference to questioning be removed from the Firearms Amendment Act 2010; Government agreed to that, along with six other changes, and the legislation was passed in the House of Assembly.

Under the law Police will be able to apply for a "warrant of detention" during the first 72 hours after a person is arrested and, if successful, will be able to hold the person for 14 days. A second application for a further 14-day period will be allowed.

During his speech to the house Mr. Pettingill said: "This is what happened in apartheid South Africa detention without charge."

Mr. Pettingill said that when the British Government tabled a similar bill to detain terror suspects for 42 days without charge, Archbishop Desmond Tutu objected, describing it as an "unlawful déjà vu" [of the apartheid regime].

"What are we doing?" asked the Warwick West MP. "We are passing a detention law born out of apartheid."

Now Mr. Pettingill and the Bermuda Democratic Alliance have come under fire from Premier Dr. Ewart Brown after a posting on his Facebook page suggested the BDA is nothing more than a rebranded apartheid regime.

"In South Africa, many of the old supporters of the Apartheid-era regime are now supporting a new and recently rebranded political party called the Democratic Alliance," reads the first line of Dr. Brown's posting.

It continues: "Mr. Pettingill is clearly ignorant to the horrors of apartheid. If he wasn't, he would never have made such a statement. And, Bermuda's Democratic Alliance is complicit for not reprimanding their MP for his ignorant comparison. Black South Africans were subjugated and humiliated by the apartheid government.

"It is therefore, patently offensive and ignorant to compare a measured effort to get guns off of Bermuda's streets and convict gun offenders with the overt humiliation and subjugation of a people.

"Mr. Pettingill should apologise and Bermuda's Democratic Alliance should distance themselves from Mr. Pettingill's trivialisation of one of the worst atrocities in human history."

But Mr. Pettingill stood by his comments last night stating that he was only quoting Bishop Tutu and the PLP are "spinning" his comments to draw attention away from them almost passing an "oppressive law".

"To say that I was trivialising apartheid is complete nonsense," said Mr. Pettingill. "I was speaking on behalf of all the innocent young men that could be affected under an oppressive law.

He added: "I thought something different had happened in the House on Friday – something good. I felt like every side of the House was working with one another – like we had really put our heads together on something. Everyone agreed that we needed to take some harsh measures but I felt passing the law as it was would be oppressive.

"For the PLP, through their spin doctors, to take this 30-second quote out of all the good stuff that happened is ridiculous – just stop it."

Through a Facebook message the BDA came out in support of Mr. Pettingill.

"Mr. Pettingill voiced his reservations, and then introduced amendments which were passed unanimously. In this instance, the Parliamentary process worked as it was designed, and Bermuda won in the end," reads the posting by BDA member Sean Soares.

"The reality is that Premier Brown's Labour Government attempted to race flawed legislation through the House of Assembly, legislation that, if applied by people with the wrong motives, would have had the potential to incarcerate people for up to 28 days without any evidence at all.

"If the Labour Party was really serious they would introduce laws that protect citizens that do the right thing and testify against criminals and upgrade the training and equipment available to our law enforcement agencies. Instead, they try to bulldoze bad legislation through Parliament, and then castigate those who expose the truth."

"It is quite pathetic that the Labour Party is trying to paint the BDA as some kind of apartheid era party. This is a desperate move from a desperate government and does nothing to serve the interests of Bermudians."

Last night, through his press secretary Premier Dr. Ewart Brown issued the following statement:

"The focus of this government is to address the pressing issues facing our people and not be caught up in the attempts by members of the Opposition to equate tough legislation with the horrors of institutionalised White Supremacy."