Seeking help to end gun violence suggested

It may be time to seek help from international law enforcement agencies to put an end to the gun violence affecting this island.

In his address to the Lower House yesterday, Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley insisted that if the Royal Barbados Police Force did not have the capacity to deal with the situation, including discovering and arresting those responsible for bringing illegal weapons onto these shores, aid must be sought elsewhere.

“We need to get the help for the police which is necessary, and if it should come from outside through an internationally recognised law-enforcement agency, that is in the interest of Barbados so and I am seriously making a call for that,” he said.

Atherley said that while the local police force would suggest that it had the capability, capacity and means to address the illegal gun problem, it was not being addressed and with the number of shootings and gun-related crimes seemingly increasing, it was time to nip the problem in the bud before it grew to higher levels.

“We have got to understand that the rising spectrum of this type of violence and the availability of these type of firearms poses a threat to our way of life as we know it and to our democracy and that the guns which are not trained at each other, will perhaps one day be trained at the police authority or one day be trained at the political personalities and those who are operating in the government and we have to nip this thing in the bud.”

“If we find that the police force here does not have the capacity to address this situation then I am strongly suggesting that we need to import the help and capacity for whatever recognised and capable international agency to address this matter. That has to be an investment which is worthwhile because we are talking about the well being of this country,” he stressed. (JMB)