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Jul 10, 2015 Editorial, Features / Columnists
Serious questions need to be asked about the alarming frequency of gun crimes, not least of which is: have we reached a point where irrespective of sophisticated planning, the citizens will remain at the mercy of marauding elements?
In such an environment characterized by an almost pervasive fear of crime, people are understandably very apprehensive for their personal safety. This menace is arguably overwhelming law enforcement efforts.
An early morning armed attack on a Judge and her husband yesterday in the East Coast Demerara village of Felicity, in a gated community no less, is a clear indication that the lawless are confident enough to cross any boundary, at any cost. The effects of this latest home invasion will reverberate countrywide. Is anyone safe?
The recent shooting of a businesswoman in Berbice earlier in the week was equally shocking. Reports of the victim being held by the collar of her item of clothing, and shot in the head, presented the nation with graphic imagery for the mind’s eye. This is inexplicable inhumanity.
Equally alarming is that youth involvement in such crimes has reached unprecedented proportions. We have been exposed to our fair share over the past few years to a wide range of teenage and other youth criminals. No one can forget the young men who made life for taxi drivers a nightmare. At present there are few drivers willing to take the chance of working at certain hours of the night and in perceived crime hotspots. Livelihoods are being affected.
On an almost daily basis we hear of someone being held with a firearm that is unlicensed. Many are appearing in the courts. Sometimes we hear of the police, acting on a tip-off, finding weapons tucked away somewhere. In many cases we learn that the police would recover firearm after or during a robbery.
Undoubtedly the discoveries are not even the tip of the iceberg. There are more guns out there than one would care to imagine. During the past five years the police have been recovering more than 100 guns per year. This translates to one every three or four days. And while the police are seizing weapons there are many more gun crimes being committed. Hardly is there a robbery without a gun being used.
The society in some ways is responsible for the preponderance of guns. For one, people value their privacy and therefore behave in objectionable ways when their routines are interrupted at roadblocks. Roadblocks have been very helpful in unearthing weapons. On many occasions the police have been able to recover guns after people in vehicles approaching the roadblocks would have attempted to throw the weapons through the windows. Sometimes these guns are found in vehicles.
However, people have been hostile to ranks at roadblocks not recognizing that the simple exercise could save lives. If roadblocks could be so annoying, consider the stop- and-search method which is commonly used in many societies as the law enforcers’ act on suspicions.
One can rest assured that if the police were to randomly stop and search certain people; they would find more weapons than they do at present. That is because these people walk around with the unlicensed weapon looking for victims on whom to prey. Some of them walk around with the guns which they then offer for rental to criminal elements.
The problem we have here is that many of those held with guns are very young people who believe that the criminal enterprise is the most lucrative in the world. In many cases they do cart off large sums from hapless victims.
Indeed, as indicated earlier, these youths commit the bulk of the armed robberies. They are the people on whom the police are most likely to find unlicensed weapons. They now pose significant threats to society.
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