BACK IN THE 1990s Spice and Company sang about Too Many Guns.
It is a concern which resonates with Barbadians 20 years later despite attempts by Government and police to restrict and reduce the number of illegal guns flowing into the island, including tougher gun laws.
Acting Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith continues to insist that illegal guns are being smuggled through the island’s borders and said during a press conference last year that there was an “abundance” of illegal weapons here.
His statements were made 14 years after the authorities of the day sought to implement harsher penalties for illegal firearms.
In 2002, four years after the 1998 Firearms Act came into effect repealing the 1896 law that provided only for a $5 000 maximum fine or 12 months in prison, judicial officers had a wider range of sentencing options – up to 25 years in jail, fines up to a maximum of $150 000 or both. (RB)
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