A GUY'S VIEW

“Across the nation, we’re all part of communities. In cities, on farms, and in the suburbs, we share everyday moments with our neighbours, colleagues, family, and friends. It’s easy to take for granted the routine moments in our every day – going to work or school, the grocery store or the gas station. But your every day is different than your neighbour’s – filled with the moments that make it uniquely yours. So if you see something you know shouldn’t be there – or someone’s behaviour that doesn’t seem quite right – say something. Because only you know what’s supposed to be in your everyday. Informed, alert communities play a critical role in keeping our nation safe. ‘If You See Something, Say Something™’ engages the public in protecting our homeland through awareness–building, partnerships, and other outreach.”

 

The above information was copied from the website of the United States Department of Homeland Security. I chose to repeat it here in its entirety because the sentiments expressed in it are as relevant to us in Barbados as they are to America.

 

Recent events in the United States demonstrate how vulnerable any society may be in the face of a single person who is disaffected and is intent on doing harm. The United States has a problem with trying to convince its citizens that their right to bear arms should be circumscribed in certain circumstances. Free, legal access to guns make it impossible for their problems with gun use to be significantly constrained. But they know that, one suspects. The problem is with persons who are either mentally challenged or have some evil motive. The prosperity of America has made it the target of people with strange ideas. Mass killings are becoming increasingly common in the United States. Easy access to high powered guns makes it exceedingly difficult to combat this phenomenon once a person is intent on committing such an act. The only chance of minimising this is to have any unusual behaviour immediately addressed.

 

The American government employs considerable resources in an effort to protect Americans from external threats. This they have done with some success. However, it is proving to be a much tougher task to protect them from the enemy within. 

 

Ever since the World Trade Centre incident, the world has been putting increasingly rigorous security measures in place to prevent other terrorist attacks, in America and elsewhere. This has truly been a global fight which most countries in the world have agreed to undertake. It is generally accepted that the free world must now work harder to remain free. This effort has become necessary as, clearly, there are others who would wish to change western liberties.

 

It is one thing to put international policy in place. It is another to prevent homegrown attacks. There is not much help others can provide to prevent domestic incidents. It is acknowledgement of this fact that prompted those in charge of that country’s national security to resort to its current self-help line of defence. The gun industry is big business in the United States. It is not surprising, therefore, that those with an interest in this business would lobby, advertise, spread propaganda, or do almost anything else to keep as many guns in the hands of people as possible. That is not the case in Barbados. We do not make guns in Barbados. There is no legitimate business interest which benefits from the sale of guns here, other than the few gun dealers we have who import guns for sport shooting and to supply the small licenced owners market. 

 

Yet, there seems to be a proliferation of guns in the hands of young Barbadians. Guns seem to be so accessible that minor disputes are settled with gun fire. I recently heard a story of a young man who wore a three dollar pair of slippers and carried a thirty-five hundred dollar gun. How guns find their way into our communities is a topic that some no longer wish to discuss. But that is a different subject for another time.

 

The current reality is that guns are here in large numbers and the uses to which they are put are ripping apart our once idealic society. We do not yet have to grapple with mass murders, but, given where we came from with respect to gun crime, what we are seeing now represents a quantum leap that is unacceptable. This may not be reflected in the true volume of crime, but it is certainly felt in the fear of crime. Police intelligence might suggest that many of the shootings taking place could be battles among contending criminal groups, but this does little to give confidence to citizens who are unaccustomed to this kind of activity. When innocent persons are wounded or killed as a consequence of gang gun play, we are not in a game. All Barbadians should have an interest in bringing this kind of activity to an end. 

 

This brings us back to the approach of the American Department of Homeland Security. Like them, we must recruit each law abiding citizen to join in the effort to save our way of life. It is vital to our well-being that persons are able to come and go as they please without being molested or being the victim of some gun crime. 

 

It is equally important that visitors to our shores have this same experience. I see tourists walking along our west coast and south coast roads at all hours of the night in total bliss. We can allow nothing to change this, either for them or for us. 

 

The popular music culture encourages us not to co-operate with the police. “Me en’ no informant”, or words to that effect. We see what happens to societies when law-abiding citizens do not inform on law breakers. They rapidly descend into chaos and lawlessness and good citizens become prisoners in their own homes.

 

Ours is not a society on the brink of an oppressive police state. There can be no dishonour in reporting that you are aware of some action that will be harmful to your neighbour. Just imagine what you would wish your neighbour to do when the reverse is true. 

 

There can be no large scale crime activity in Barbados without persons knowing about it. When communities remain silent in the face of crime, they become crime zones in which no one is safe. Silence does not buy safety. It guarantees constant fear and a poor quality of life. We must decide what kind of society in which we wish to live. And what kind of country we will pass on to our children.