The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Over the last few days, a gang war erupted in the streets of Nassau, disrupting the peace and leaving over 20 people dead in March. Recently, Nassau suffers one murder every two or three nights since the weekend where five people were killed, hours apart from one another.

Meanwhile, a national conference and several police briefings were held to find the people responsible for the bloodbath. Despite the immediate deployment of saturation patrols and increased investments towards Urban Renewal, the gang war continues to terrorise the capital city with murders occurring almost every evening.

However, Police Commissioner Paul Rolle spoke of certain individuals and shipping companies in South Florida being responsible for the increased traffic of illegally modified firearms and other military equipment acquired from the Black Market. This was a few days ago from a recent police briefing.

For decades, arms trafficking has plagued the Bahamas alongside the drug trade with hundreds dead since the 1980s. With every successful delivery of cocaine and marijuana, guns flow into the country from neighbouring Florida and elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere. With drugs and guns, it brings the gang wars and dozens if not, a hundred homicides on a yearly basis with no end in sight.

Outside of social issues that needs to be addressed in schools, the only way to stop this current gang war and to properly combat the issue of gun smuggling is to simply treat the crime of gun running as an act of terrorism.

The gangsters nowadays have lost their fear of the law because of this same illegal drug trade that brings the gangsters money, power and guns. They lost the sense of dread of being arrested or killed because no one had dared to challenge their authority on the streets.

If no one is willing to stop the gun runners and gangs today, then these gang wars and homicides will claim more lives and they’ll eventually target major social and political figures in the future.

Just like how the actions of Al-Qaeda and other extremists groups were declared terrorists after committing acts of mass murder or financing other attacks against the state, the same gangs and the illegal arms dealers and smugglers should face far more severe sentences.

For the possession of an illegal firearm? Nine and a half years mandatory for each charge. Smuggling in even one handgun? 12 years without any hope for parole or bail. Running an illegal arms trafficking ring? 36 years to life in prison.

In addition to any new legislation and law that targets gangs and their suppliers, the Police and Defence Force must commit to a massive offensive against them in order to properly enforce the law. Every possible point of entry point into the country, like marinas and airports, must be placed on perpetual high security and the personnel responsible for national security must remain forever vigilant against smuggling attempts. Any intelligence effort against murders and other gang activities involving firearms must be placed on the highest priority for the government to investigate. Last. but not least, a massive scale community campaign should be instated nationwide to prevent young people from joining gangs.

This may not solve any long term issues, but these efforts will effectively lower the murder rate until a viable solution is found.

AMMAKA RUSSELL

Nassau,

April 11, 2022.