Those guns are ubiquitous

Jul 09, 2013 Editorial

The police have been reporting that there seems to be a preponderance of guns in the society. This is not news. What is surprising is that the police have not been able to seize more guns. It would seem as if all they have to do is to stop a vehicle on the road and the result would be the discovery of an illegal weapon.
Indeed, gone are the days of knife-point robberies and even the choke and robbers. Even the very young ‘wannna be’ criminals have guns. People talk about the ease with which people resort to guns and what is now happening is that the clever person avoids disputes while the more hostile get into heated arguments and eventually get shot.
The proliferation of guns is exemplified by recent events. A man and a woman get into an argument in the vicinity of a city funeral parlour. The woman says something that annoys the man so he whips out a gun and shoots her in the leg. The woman ends up in hospital and the man goes on the run.
Before that, a young man calls his friend and shoots him in the head for no known reason. Some claim that he wanted to show the friend that he had a gun—illegal of course. That matter is being determined by the courts.
We hear that some thieves opted to enter a home. They force their way into the home but they did not bargain for the reaction of the victims. In the end they were forced to flee and in the process, they left a firearm behind. This weapon is now with the police.
A few nights ago, a man goes on the seawalls with a woman believed to be someone other than his wife. He is singled out for attack and is shot and killed. It goes without question that the weapon is illegal.
A few hours later, some gunmen park in Kingston and wait for a businessman who was proceeding to the bank. They shoot up the car, killing a man in the process. They execute the robbery and shoot the businessman before they escape.
From all observations, it would seem that there are more guns on the streets than anyone would wish to consider. The police stop a car that happened to be trailing someone who had just exited a commercial bank. It cannot be by accident that they find an unlicenced firearm and eleven matching rounds of ammunition.
The possession of an illegal forearm is not unique to Guyana. We see the effects in neighbouring Trinidad and Jamaica where people die of gunshot wounds in numbers that defy imagination. The difference is that the populations in those two Caribbean countries are far larger than Guyana’s. Trinidad has almost four times as many people; Jamaica has three times the population of Guyana.
Guyana has tried many things in the past to harness the illegal weapons. At one time, the government of the day cancelled every firearm licence to start the licensing process all over again. We are not sure that the authorities collected all the weapons but we do know that back then there were not as many gun crimes.
The present government has examined a practice that some government uses—the policy of buy back. It pays for every illegal weapon turned in. The problem is that the gunmen only sell those that they do not need. In any case, guns flow across the border. Some say that the guns follow the illegal drugs and that if the government were to clamp down on the drug trade it would eliminate the guns.
But those efforts need support. Some countries have draconian penalties for possession of an illegal weapon. Despite the overcrowded jails Guyana may wish to impose harsh legislation to curb the presence of the guns.
However, there is another problem, that of the large number of illiterates who simply see the gun as a status symbol. These people simply do not have the sense or the power of reasoning to recognise the dangers a weapon poses.

Latest News

Those guns are ubiquitous

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| April, 7th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Berbice ease past Demerara in low-scoring match

Upper Demerara suffer 8 wicket loss as Lakeram...

Joshi is the new National 2025 Women’s Chess...

Kares Engineering renews title sponsorship of One...

Harpy Eagles looking to put old rivals to bed,...

Windsor Estates reigns supreme at AmCham Golf...

Features/Columnists

Does the PNCR really want to go down this road?

The U.S. “Joining” the Commonwealth: an unreasonable expectation

Police violence – life is cheap in Linden

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Those guns are ubiquitous

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| April, 7th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]