EDITOR, The Tribune

I remember the days in years gone by that the only weapon that a Bahamian policeman carried on his person was a “billy” strapped around his waist. Guns were unheard of, but the wooden “biily“ was certainly the weapon of protection and discipline!

Because the United States, which built itself into the great nation that we see today had, in its beginning, to depend on the farmer and his rifle to protect its citizens because there was no standing arming, each farmer was the owner of a gun. And when the cry went out for help, the farmer and his rifle appeared. However, as the great nation grew, the lowly farmer and his gun were no longer needed, however they were not forgotten – the farmer and his right to a gun were even written into the Constitution of the United States. It is this right that has now grown to haunt us, yes, even here in the Bahamas.

According to America’s constitution‘s Second Amendment – “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

And that right wasn’t infringed, even to the point of creating a threat to us here in the Bahamas, where recently the death or injury of Bahamians at gunpoint is now making the headlines. I recall many years ago in the United States when a father, who always slept with a gun in his bedroom, heard strange noises in the wee hours past midnight. Instinctively he reached for his gun and fired. When he went to investigate, he found he had killed his teenaged son, who had returned home past curfew, and was climbing through the window to try to avoid his father’s wrath. Despite similar stories, gun ownership is written into the American constitution as a God-given right.

I recall hearing several years ago that there was an occasion — there might have been many, but I only heard of one — that a baby’s coffin passed through Bahamas Customs. I don’t know at what point it was discovered that there was no infant’s body in that coffin — it was filled with guns!

Several years later I was discussing our growing gun problem with a young man. I refused to believe what he was telling me about the ease of getting a gun. He then offered to prove it to me. I gave him a certain number of dollars (it’s been so long ago that I don’t remember the sum, but it would not have been much). Off he went and a few hours later he was back with a gun, which the next morning had to be turned over to the police with an explanation.

As long as the United States makes the over-the-counter purchase of a gun so simple, the Bahamas will always have a major problem.

It is now up to us to do all in our power to get this problem under control.

A WORRIED CITIZEN

Nassau.

July 1, 2022.