Tough new laws tackling gun crime — controversially sped through the House of Assembly last Friday — have stalled after Public Safety Minister David Burch decided the Senate didn't need to sit this week.

Both Opposition parties yesterday asked why Government was so keen to rush amendments to the Firearms and Bail Acts through the House — to the anger of Opposition MPs — when it had no plans to table them immediately in the Upper Chamber anyway.

Bermuda Democratic Alliance chairman Michael Fahy said Government could have been trying to sneak the bills past the House as quickly as possible because it knew they were flawed, only for BDA MP Mark Pettingill to point out problems at Friday afternoon's sitting.

Responding to complaints the Opposition hadn't been given enough time to prepare for last Friday's debate, Attorney General Kim Wilson argued last week: "We are going through extraordinary times and therefore we have to make haste."

However, rushing the bills through the House has made no difference to how quickly they can become law because, due to yesterday's non-sitting, the earliest they can be approved by the Senate is now Wednesday, June 23.

A day before Sen. Wilson's comment, Senators had been told they would have no sitting this week, a decision made by Sen. Burch, the Progressive Labour Party Senate Leader. Sen. Burch and Sen. Wilson did not respond to questions yesterday.

United Bermuda Party Senate Leader Michael Dunkley said he understands the Senate didn't sit because the Bermuda Housing Amendment Act was the only piece of legislation up for debate.

Sen. Dunkley said: "It doesn't make any sense to me. I thought we would at least come back to get these bills tabled."

Mr. Fahy said: "It's odd. Given the haste in which the Bail and Firearms Acts were brought to the House it's surprising the Senate didn't sit so they could be tabled. If we have to make haste then we have to make haste.

"Even if the Senate was only sitting for an hour they would have been able to table the bills. It begs the question whether they were trying to pass bad legislation last Friday.

"There should have been more input from other parties given that this is something it's in the national interest to get right."

The legislation, tabled in the House of Assembly on May 28, gives Police the power to hold firearms suspects for up to 28 days without charge and impose conditions of bail, such as a curfew or surrender of a passport.

Last Thursday, the Opposition was told the bills would be debated the following day, with UBP deputy leader Trevor Moniz dubbing that move "pathetic" and pointing out they were being dealt with a week earlier than the usual protocol.

Sen. Wilson replied at that time: "These are extraordinary times. These are things that need to be done without delay."

On Friday, Mr. Pettingill likened the firearms amendment to the oppressive apartheid regime in South Africa, saying holding suspects for a month could be deemed aggressive conduct. Government agreed to seven last-minute changes to the wording and it was passed by the House.

Sen. Dunkley said yesterday's non-sitting highlighted how slowly legislation is coming to the fore at a time when urgent progress is needed.

"The thing that struck me as weird is that we got back to the Senate after being down for the Easter recess, and we have all these things going on with the economy and crime, and you would think we would start to see some legislation," he said.