When a knife is a lesser evil, almost a relief

Apr 28, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,
On April 27, there were four stories in Kaieteur News, with three involving robberies. Of the four stories, three had something to do with guns, while the fourth was the mere matter of a knife, two of such. I say the ‘mere matter of a knife’ because in the Guyana of our day, knives held out menacingly in a felony represent a step-down from staring down at the barrel of a gun. It is as if Guyanese going about their law-abiding business would prefer to face the lesser of two evils (a knife) versus the perils harboured in a gun with the business end pointed to the head.
As KN reported, there were three robberies, two in the capital city – Hadfield Street and North Road – and one in Linden. The two in the city involved guns drawn and aimed at the heads of citizens – one with a broken-down vehicle, the other having a conversation in his car, and hailing a passing friend. The guns came up and the victims went down. No! Nobody died or got shot, for which there is gratitude. But they are down in property and money, which is a far better deal, though a loser anyways. As for the robbery in Linden, it was rarity in today’s Guyana, robbers with knives. They must be either rookies or strapped for the cash down payment for a real tool of their criminal trade, a gun. Again, thankfully, no one was harmed.
But these three situations of crime, so normal nowadays as to be numbing, brings this puzzle before crime-weary, crime-stricken Guyanese. Is it better to be robbed by a knife, than by someone armed with a gun? Of course, if that is a choice, it is a Hobson’s one; and nothing more than a deal made with you know who and in hell. All citizens would absolutely prefer not to be robbed at all, and by anyone with anything, be it a matchstick or a missile. But guns are just all around, and in the hands of progressive denizens, who think nothing of quoting, in the corresponding Guyanese version, Robert Louis Stevenson words: “One more step, Mister…, and I’ll blow your brains out.” That is, if they say anything at all, and if they weigh those civilised options. Sometimes, it is living by that older adage: dead people don’t talk.
Editor, this hustles me to the second fearsome issue. How many roving ambassadors on motorcycles and bicycles are lurking around and prowling around on our streets and villages armed and dangerous? A motorcycle in the mirror or vicinity has now risen to the level of an uninterrupted crisis. Man, this is no way to live in a country on the move, police statistics and all. Like infrastructure that can’t be consumed, improving and comforting police statistics (hopefully untouched) are neither shields nor serenades. It is where the routine has deteriorated into the life threatening, where the commonplace could now be one’s final resting place.
As an aside, the fourth story from KN on April 27 was of two guns seized from two separate locations. In five sets of circumstances, four guns were around or found. That is an 80 percent chance of lightning bolt striking from a steel muzzle. I believe those odds are highly unfavourable to ordinary, orderly citizens walking, driving, parking, fixing, shopping, or liming, among numerous other lawful pursuits. This is rough stuff, folks, terribly frightening.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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