Tackling guns the big problem

Firearm killings have been on the rise in Barbados for some time says Attorney General Dale Marshall, even during periods when cases of murder had fallen.

Providing statistics to support his argument, Marshall revealed:

1987  –  24 murders – two by firearm

1988 –  21 murders – six by firearm

1990 –  30 murders – five by firearm

1999 –  23 murders – nine by firearm

2001 –  25 murders – 10 by firearm

2002 –  25 murders – 15 by firearm

2024 –  49 murders – 34 by firearm

While the statistics were telling, the Attorney General heaped praise on law enforcement officers, especially The Barbados Police Service (TBPS) for whom the bulk of funding to his ministry was going.

He highlighted the rate at which the police were recovering guns and taking them off the streets, while slamming the previous administration for its failure to address the absence of working scanners at the Bridgetown Port during that period.

Commending TBPS, Marshall told the House: “Between 2021, January, and the end of last year, December 2024, the Police Service seized 359 firearms. . . . and taken off of the streets, out of the hands of criminals. But as I said, because the guns were coming in illegally through our ports of entry, we have no idea how big a dent that number 359 represents.”

He stated: “None of us in this government has been engaging in the business of blame. I only mention these things to set a context and to demonstrate how we got where we are. Our job, and a job that we’ve not shirked from, not shied away from, is to take action and to deal with it.”

Stressing that the crime situation did not arise overnight, he urged Barbadians to dismiss the idea that it could be solved quickly.

“It took decades to get here . . . in other words, it will take some time, but I don’t anticipate that it will take us decades. But we know through human existence that the more serious the problem is, the more concerted the effort must be, and the more time it will take to wrestle it to the ground.”

 (IMC1)