Article Image Alt Text

Dr Dwayne Devonish, Senior Lecture in Management alongside Director of the Criminal Justice Research and Planning Unit (CJRPU), Cheryl Willoughby.

Gun rental a reality in Barbados

The rental of firearms in Barbados is very much a reality.

While inmates at Her Majesty’s Prisons Dodds said that the purchase of a gun could cost as much as $10 000, they also admitted that renting is another option.

That is according to research coming out of the Criminal Justice Research and Planning Unit (CJRPU), which looked at gun violence.

Director, Cheryl Willoughby shared the findings during The University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Campus – Office of Alumni Relations, Panel Discussion on “Youth, Crime & Violence in Barbados: Symptoms, Solutions and Strategies”, held recently at the 3Ws Pavilion.

“We would have learned from our research that guns are sold and rented in Barbados. You can go on any block and have the opportunity, if you so desire, to rent a gun at a fee. Inmates were very open and stated that they were willing to purchase a gun for as much as $10 000,” she revealed.

Willoughby said that CJRPU’s research has also identified that a number of the issues that the country faces as it relates to gun violence and murders are connected to warring factions among gangs.

Acknowledging the several views being expressed by Barbadians about why these murders are occurring, she however disclosed that research shows: “A lot of it is as a result of reprisals; persons not being able to negotiate as it relates to conflict among warring gangs and so they are resorting to violence, specifically gun violence in order to settle disputes.”

Furthermore, the Director pointed out that research across the globe suggests that when there is a situation where persons are resorting to street justice, it speaks to the inability of persons to trust the current criminal justice system to give them some form of justice; and there are not willing to wait any length of time for justice to be mended out.

“We all know that we have a situation in Barbados where it is taking quite sometime for cases to move throughout the system. And so if we look at the recommendations coming from my department five to six years ago, you would have recognised that we would have listed a number of recommendations to address the issue of delays which include, looking at or examining the speed at which matters are dealt with as well as having additional resources to deal with the systemic problems that we would have identified,” Willoughby indicated.

“So persons are resorting to this type of outcome based on the fact that they seem not to trust the authority; the system that currently exists.” (TL)

Barbados Advocate

Mailing Address:
Advocate Publishers (2000) Inc
Fontabelle, St. Michael, Barbados

Phone: (246) 467-2000
Fax: (246) 434-2020 / (246) 434-1000