THE RECENT UPSURGE in deaths by guns wielded by our young men is a worrisome matter.
Many of us are questioning the origin of the guns with a view to putting a stop to their entry into the country. This is a laudable step but it does not address the deepest core of this problem.
Two recent deadly shootings and a firearm attack connected to the Brittons Hill community are disturbing, to say the least. Possession of the guns is one thing but the disregard for the sanctity of human life, which these young men now seem to regard as expendable, sends a dangerous message to all Barbadians, since we seem to be producing some people who have no regard for any of the values that have made this country we live in the beautiful place that it is.
The easy way out is to regard the incidents as confined to a small group of deviants who may, for one reason or another, find it convenient to kill each other in the pursuit of revenge or some criminal objective.
However, many of these young men have fathered one or more children by the time that their young lives provide yet another chilling example of the truth that he who lives by the sword dies by the sword.
What becomes of these youth should concern us all because they, too, may become victims of the criminal subculture, deprived as they are of guidance and proper parenting in a cycle of continuing criminality across generations. The task of the authorities is to end these cycles but the task is manifold.
One can understand the cry of some of the Brittons Hill youngsters that they want work in order to earn money. That may be the legitimate cry of youth across the island but it is not an excuse for engaging in criminal activity. Otherwise our forefathers would have overrun this country with deviant behaviour when adversity and rampant unemployment were the order of the day.
How difficult it will be to bring these young men back into the fold of normality can be gauged from some of the mindsets which conduce to the burgeoning deviant behaviour.
To blame crime on some politicians, as one spokesman did, or to argue that once the politicians are in power they go and deal with people who have money and leave “us” out fails to take into account the many beneficial social programmes put in place to assist the upward mobility of all Barbadians who are prepared to grab the opportunities available.
It is equally muddle-headed thinking, though it contains more than a grain of truth, to suggest that “when the youth ain’t getting no work, then them sell drugs and drugs lead to guns and guns lead to crime”.
We must persuade these youngsters to recognise that it is equally criminal to sell drugs as it is to possess a gun without a licence or, worse, to use the gun to kill or maim a person.
We may have failed to acculturate these youngsters in the right way; and now every effort must be made to rid the country of those areas where a gun is easier to obtain than a book. But this is a herculean task in which we must change antisocial attitudes as well as stem the flow of guns.
