IT comes as no surprise that the majority of the guns on our streets have come from the US – the question is, what can be done about it?

Our country leads the region in the percentage of guns that come from the US. It’s a category we would have no wish to take the lead in.

Eighty-five percent of guns recovered here trace back to buyers in the US. Barbados comes next with 80 percent.

A report from the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) department in the US said that firearms can be bought in the US for $350 and sold illegally here for $1,600.

From The Tribune’s reporting over the years, we can add that does not take into account the number of times a gun is rented by someone.

Pay a hundred bucks and it might get you the loan of a gun for the weekend, we have been told.

Get caught, however, and you may well find the gun has a history – a bloody one at that. Multiple murders can be committed with a single gun, and the criminal that gets caught with it gets linked with every one of those crimes, even if it was in the hands of another killer at the time.

The report tells us that the guns usually come in through shipping transport, and often are inside larger items, such as cars or televisions or broken down and hidden in household items.

Police officers here have shown at briefings how they have found guns concealed inside such things as cereal boxes.

The report also mentions one of the other hindrances in tackling such a problem – corruption.

It says: “For instance, firearms traffickers bribe Customs officials to

ensure their shipments containing firearms or firearms parts go uninspected, resulting in fewer firearms seizure, according to US and Caribbean officials.”

On the heels of last week’s report that three-quarters of businesses in The Bahamas have paid bribes routinely in order to get things done, it paints a bleak picture.

A gun runner brings a weapon into the country. An official takes a bribe. The gun goes undetected. It gets sold on. And someone on the streets uses it for yet another murder. And so the blood keeps being spilled.

Our government did join a lawsuit, filed by Mexico, to tackle the problem – but that case went nowhere fast.

The incoming Trump administration seems focused on less regulation rather than more – so we would not hold out much expectation of a clampdown from that side of the water.

So what do we do?

These weapons are killing our young men in particular. They are killing our future.

We can start by making a decision not to tolerate the corruption that often exists in plain sight.

No room for bribes. Maximum punishment for those who take them. No excuses. No matter how high the corruption goes.

That should be across the board.

How many of us think that will really happen? How many think our authorities are minded to tackle that issue?

Until we do, we accept the criminals in our midst. Bribery feeds the chain of murder that haunts our streets. It is not a harmless crime. It should be dealt with accordingly.