What boys play with just part of a bigger issue

As Barbados’ political leadership attempts to address many of the issues confronting society like the destabilising rise in serious crime, there must be an admission that not every problem can be solved through legislation.

As societies evolve, they are going to be challenged with new and evolving difficulties to which traditional prescriptions may not be as effective as expected.

Today, the scourge of gun violence is tormenting citizens of almost every Caribbean society. Barbados, though relatively safe with a violent crime problem that does not reach the levels as have affected some of its neighbours, is by no means insulated.

The island has already reported a record high number of murders, at 49, and residents are hoping that murder cases do not reach the 50 mark.

Dale Marshall, the island’s Attorney General and Member of Parliament for St Joseph, put it simply, “We cannot continue on our current path.”

As he addressed the Latin America and Caribbean Security and Justice Summit which was staged in Barbados days ago, Marshall said the 49 murders for 2024 was the highest in the country’s history.

He conceded there was a need to abandon what he termed outdated crime-fighting methods and for a strategic shift to more sophisticated, data-driven strategies.

Furthermore, Mr Marshall holds the view that beating  back crime will require more advanced and collaborative efforts between agencies and groups.

It is an entirely reasonable position to take as criminals have become more sophisticated and more diabolical. The mass shooting in The City earlier this year when three men were gunned down and several others injured during an early morning attack on a bar, as well as the reported kidnap, torture and killing of two St Philip men, represented a defining, hellish turn in the manner of crime on the island.

With the majority of murders resulting from shootings, it is the possession of guns, and access to these deadly weapons that is most disturbing for Barbadians.

Important also, is the seeming glamorisation of the gun lifestyle. It emanates from the movies, music, video games, and more. This pervasive presence of guns in our cultural and media ecosystem is being blamed, in part, for the situation which confronts this nation.

In the midst of the search for solutions, has come a proposal from the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations (CTUSAB) for a national ban on the importation and sale of toy guns.

To many who support the concept, this was a quick, easy fix. Remove the toy guns from the sight of children and half the problem is solved.

General Secretary of CTUSAB, Dennis de Penza argued that just as marijuana was seen as a gateway drug to much more destructive narcotics, toy guns represented a gateway to the real firearms.

“This is something I feel very, very strongly about,” de Peiza assessed, arguing that toy guns were providing practice to make perfect the shooting skills.

In the General Secretary’s estimation any “right-thinking government” that wanted to take action at the base of the problem would pursue measures that attacked the culture surrounding guns.

Newly minted president of CTUSAB Ryan Phillips comes from a law enforcement background as an experienced and well-respected prison officer who has also served internationally.

His position on the issue is rather dogmatic. If there is no evidence that toy guns are beneficial to the society, then they needed to be banned.

There is irrefutable evidence that “mock guns” have been used to commit crimes as the image of gun drives so much fear into the heart of potential victims of crime that there is no contemplation that the weapon could be a fake.

Those who do not see the point of such a heavy-handed move argue that toy guns have been around for ages, that gun-toting bad men have been in our movies and in the popular Westerns genre, so why deprive children now.

Taylor & Francis, a British-based company that publishes peer reviewed journals and articles, offered an interesting perspective in a 2021 article titled Boys, weapon toys, war play and meaning-making: prohibiting play in early childhood education settings?

The research found that teachers enforced stereotypes that certain toys were suitable for boys and that there was “a greater acceptance of boys’ playing with toy guns and weapons”.

The point is that a decision on the banning of toy guns is just part of a much bigger issue that requires deep research and not superficial responses.