Ruling out parole for criminals who use guns could be a possibility, Labour and Home Affairs Minister Quinton Edness said yesterday.

The move came after top lawyers poured cold water on changing the law to impose mandatory life sentences on armed criminals.

Mr. Edness said: "I was very interested to read the reactions last week of some of our legal fraternity to my suggestion of a mandatory life sentence for a first offence and I understood the points they made.

"One thing we might be able to do without disagreement, perhaps, is to rule out the possibility of parole in the case of a person who committed a crime with a firearm -- I'd like to hear their reaction to that idea.'' Mr. Edness was speaking after what he described as "brainstorming'' talks with Police Commissioner Colin Coxall and senior civil servants.

The Minister said the proposal to make life imprisonment mandatory for a first offence of armed crime had been discussed.

But he added no conclusions had been reached and it was agreed further meetings were needed.

Mr. Edness said: "We noted that the law on armed crime currently contains a provision that prison sentences for multiple charges should be served consecutively, not concurrently, meaning that they are added together.'' Other issues discussed were means of making it more difficult to bring guns into Bermuda, like tighter Police and Customs surveillance of cruise ships, more X-raying of courier packages and stricter rules governing the carrying of firearms on yachts.

But Mr. Edness added: "None of these measures can be as effective as a public which simply will not tolerate guns and which is prepared to give Police any and all information they have about guns no matter who is involved.

"If we could persuade the public to do that, our problems would be over.'' CRIME CRM