MY almost namesake, the late Sir Branford Taitt, was fond of saying that Barbadians are a crisis people. Indeed, it seems that with one or two very notable exceptions, we tend to wait until serious societal problems are almost out of the stable to launch frantic attempts to close the door.
And so it was the past week with lamentations across the floor in the House of Assembly on the upsurge in gun crimes highlighted by eight shootings in the preceding nine days that left one man dead and others wounded.
But even in that rare event with the two political parties in the House agreeing on the broad issue for tough, immediate action to wrestle the problem to the ground, they still managed to find a way to disagree, especially on policy-related issues.
The consensus seemed to be for robust state action against the perpetrators of gun crimes, a more focused approach to interdicting drug shipments that it’s now clear are the source of some of the illegal guns, and a targeted community level approach with initiatives aimed at the vulnerable youth.
Opposition MP Cynthia Thomas specifically called for a general gun pardon, strategic police searches and a witness protection programme as part of any measures.
“I call on the Minister for an amnesty of firearms in this country,” she said, “for a search of vehicles because a lot of the activity in the shooting and the drug transportation happens at night.
“We have to make sure that the police are properly trained so that if the confidence of the public goes in them even further, that they do not in a naïve way, not knowing better most of the time, I believe, seek to expose those who are giving them the evidence that is critical in helping them to solve their matters.”
Cabinet Minister Michael Lashley, who has occasionally acted as Attorney General, while he did not (as far as was reported in the media) expressly oppose an amnesty, did, however, disagree with the notion of a witness protection programme.
“I do not believe that we have reached the stage in Barbados that we need a witness protection programme . . .,” Lashley said. “Witnesses openly still go to court and give evidence, people are still being prosecuted.”
If, as seems generally agreed, we are at least approaching an extraordinary place – if not exactly crisis stage – with rampant drug-related gun crimes, then the situation must perforce demand extraordinary responses.
It is true that we have tried amnesties, at least twice before, with mixed results.
It is also true that some Government and law enforcement officials here do not believe in their efficacy.
But it is also true, that if all else seems to be failing and we are left with only vague sounding ‘community initiatives’, ought we not then to have another try at an amnesty that this time is more vigorously policed?
Insist on police station only depositories and defeat the “mock police” who had knocked at householders doors.
Law enforcement officials in the United Kingdom, where, in November 2014, the Metropolitan Police launched a London-wide gun amnesty – the first in six years – and reported success, with gun crime in the capital at its lowest since 2008.
The 1988 Firearms (Amendment) Act, in the aftermath of the 1987 Hungerford massacre, was accompanied by an amnesty. It has remained a feature of British policing that from time to time a brief firearms amnesty is declared.
In the United States, which ranks 29th in the world for gun homicides per capita, gun ownership and use are substantially higher than the UK, but in the gun politics debate, gun control and gun rights advocates disagree over the role guns play in crime.
Here, we’ve had two gun amnesties, one in the 1980s and the other in October 1998, which lasted for three weeks, during which time, 93 firearms were collected.
Latterly, the then Attorney General Dale Marshall, while disappointed that the returns were not what had been hoped for, nonetheless reported “some success” at retrieving firearms in police raids and “a fair amount of success” with those in drug shipments.
His solution then was a two-pronged approach.
“We’re going to have to tackle them both together by reducing the number of guns and reducing the amount of drugs that make their way into Barbados,” Marshall said.
Albert Brandford is an independent political correspondent. Email [email protected]