Stemming the flow of illegal guns is most important
Dear Editor,
I almost fell off my chair in disbelief last week when I read a news item which said that the Commissioner of Police Dr Carl Williams was thinking (?) of commissioning a study to see if there is a nexus between dancehall music and violence. To what end? If I am not mistaken he was speaking in general about the rampant murders in our society. What a colossal waste of time that would be.
Dr Williams does not seem to understand that the most pressing need is to stem the flow of illegal guns coming into this country and to get the ones that are already here.
Has he really looked at the pervasiveness of firearms of all types in this country, and how easy it seems for anybody to get one, even if they rent it?
Every day there is at least one gun murder — whether it’s reprisals, drug-related; someone perceives they have been dissed; somebody “bad-drives” somebody else; somebody looks at another cross-eyed – and the list could go on and on. But the most frightening aspect of the whole affair is that it seems everybody has a gun or can get one.
When do the police really start making a determined, unrelenting and sustained effort to get the guns? Gun amnesties don’t work for hardened criminals.
Dr Williams may argue that the police force does not have the manpower to sustain such an effort. So I want to ask the minister of national security: What are the hundreds of soldiers in the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) doing each day? Training? Good, but for what? Let them do some real work to earn their keep.
I just read where $200-million has been approved to build accommodations for the JDF and I have no problem with the soldiers being more comfortable. But what do the taxpayers get in return?
I am suggesting that we declare a time-bound state of emergency – if we must – but decent citizens cannot continue to live in the state in which we now find ourselves. Some might want to challenge me on this, but as far as I am concerned our country is bordering on anarchy.
I have no faith that Dr Williams as commissioner will make any difference to the rampant murder rate, because I don’t see him and his men taking the guns out of the hands of criminals. And please don’t tell me about the current “get the guns” campaign. That is only slightly more effective than Dr Williams’ oft-repeated platitudes after another of the too-frequent multiple murders.
Stephen Harrison
St Mary