THE REPORT MAKES for interesting reading, but the finding released this week by the Criminal Justice Research and Planning Unit that the use of illegal guns in this country has reached crisis level is not new. These conclusions are well known by all law-abiding citizens in this country, given the spate of shootings, fatal or otherwise.
While the Royal Barbados Police Force has been doing an outstanding job after shootings by quickly catching the culprits in many instances, this brings little comfort to the victims or the families of the deceased. The situation leaves too many individuals fearing that as innocent bystanders they or their relatives will become victim to this rising incidence of gun crime.
We need neither research nor speeches to know the feelings of all right-thinking Barbadians on one matter: they want everything done to get these illegal guns off our streets and indeed the effective curtailment of them from entering the island. And we all know there are only two ways to get these weapons into the island, by air or by sea.
Acting Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith and Minister of Home Affairs Adriel Brathwaite, when they next speak to the public, may rightly talk of a decline in overall crime on the island. That would be welcome news.
They may be able to point to excellent police investigations leading to the quick solving of most crimes. But by doing such they will not erase the uneasiness so many people have for their personal safety because of the incidence of illegal gun usage.
This concern also worries the business community, whether big retailers, small operators or those who are trying to institute a 24/7 operation. The uneasiness in the tourism sector must be greatest, with all operators on code red.
The expectations for this sector to turn around the island’s economic fortunes must not be undermined by one act of lawlessness. Yes, illegal gun crime against a visitor can happen anywhere in the world, but we can’t afford it on our shores.
We understand clearly that there is a link between the illegal drugs trade and illegal weapons and that guns become survival tools in such undertakings. But this deviant subculture must not be normalised even in the face of growing unemployment and other social issues that many people, especially youth, are facing.
Consequently, getting these guns off our streets and indeed stemming their entry into the island must be the priority of law enforcement and an action that must be given full support by all right-thinking Barbadians.
Where people have information about these illegal weapons, they must share the information directly with the police, through CrimeStoppers or even a trusted responsible member of the community who will do the right thing.
We need a real, sustained commitment to getting illegal guns off our streets. We need more than talk.