The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis says he intends to raise the issue of gun smuggling into The Bahamas at the 2022 Summit of the Americas.

“All we want the Americans to do is as they promote their right to bear arms to take into account that the right to bear arms in our view ought not to be a right to traffic arms,” the Prime Minister said yesterday.

He was asked in a video interview disseminated to the press whether the issue of gun smuggling was something he intended to raise at the Summit this week in Los Angeles.

“Yes, I intend to raise that in the margins whereas it’s not a subject, clearly equitable growth and prosperity and strong and inclusive democracies are undermined and compromised by violence and gun violence in any democracy and so to have a safe and secure country this issue of gun violence has to come under control and we know where the guns come from.”

This comes the day after National Security Minister Wayne Munroe told Parliament there was an 18 percent overall rise in crime in The Bahamas.

Homicides also increased by 26 percent, the Free Town MP said.

He said: “Like our regional counterparts, there has been a high rate of violence, particularly homicides committed with firearms. The trends have been attributed to the narrowing economic and educational opportunities that have worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Hence, for the period January 1 to May 31, 2022 statistics released by the police force indicated an increase of major crimes from 1,580 incidents in 2021 to 1,872 incidents for the same period in 2022. This reflected an overall 18 percent increase for the entire Bahamas.

“It should be noted that the statistics were attributed to an increase in incidences on both New Providence and Grand Bahama. The former had a 25 percent increase and the latter a five percent increase, respectively. Meanwhile, there was a 23 percent decrease in crimes on the Family Islands when compared to 2021.”

Mr Munroe said the increase in incidents of crime occurred mainly in crimes against the person, which rose by 45 percent compared to the same period in 2021.

There were 508 incidents so far this year, compared to 351 incidents in 2021.

“This translated into increases in New Providence and Grand Bahama with 49 percent and 33 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, there was a 23 percent decrease in crimes against the person on the Family Islands.

“For the period January 1 to May 31, 2022 statistics included that there was an increase in crimes against the property as 1,364 incidents were reported compared to 1,229 incidents in 2021 for the same period.

“This translated into increases on New Providence and Grand Bahama with 17 percent and one percent, respectively. Meanwhile, there was a 20 percent decrease in crimes against the property on the Family Islands.”

Murder, drugs and weapons have a direct correlation to the increases in our crime statistics, Mr Munroe said.

“The police force has shared that there is still ongoing turf war over territory, drugs and guns on our streets. This senseless activity has resulted in an increase of homicides by 26 percent when compared to last year.

“There were 58 incidents compared to 46 in 2021, of which, 54 murders occurred in New Providence and four in Grand Bahama. Victimology revealed that 59 percent of the deceased were persons between the ages 18 years to 35 years. Retaliation and conflict were the most common motives for murder representing 45 percent, collectively.

“For the reporting period, ShotSpotter detected 296 gunshot incidents, consisting of 207 multiple shots, 76 single shots and 13 probable shot incidents, totalling 1,167 rounds discharged.”

He said, accordingly, 419 shell casings were collected and eight rounds of ammunition were seized.