The death of 10-year-old Christian Liverpool, a Standard Four pupil of the Arima New Government Primary School who was shot in the head at his Arima home, should serve as a wake-up call to the authorities that something must be done about the proliferation of guns in this country.
The investigation as to how Christian was shot is ongoing, but there are three theories being investigated.
One is that he was playing with a gun in the bedroom and it accidentally discharged. Another theory is that an adult was checking a weapon when it discharged and the child was shot in the head, and the third is that the child found the gun and it went off when a relative tried to take it away from him.
Last week’s incident is not the first in which a child died from a gunshot at their home but we hope that it is the last.
Guns are dangerous weapons and must be kept locked away and particularly out of the reach of children.
While there is a raging debate about the issuance of Firearms Users Licences, the reality is that this country has way too many illegal guns. Serious attempts must be made by those in authority to stem the flow of guns into the country. These illegal weapons are used by the criminal element to wreak havoc on law-abiding citizens.
In 2019 Independent Senator Paul Richards told the Senate that a “credible” study done by the University of Sydney had found that there were more than 32,000 illegal guns on the streets in Trinidad and Tobago.
There is no doubt that the number of illegal weapons in this country would have increased significantly since 2019.
Among the illegal weapons out on the street are the sophisticated AR-15 rifles. Richards had observed in 2019 that this country was “almost into an era of a war zone.”
No doubt citizens would have felt that way last week when two people sitting in a car were shot in the carpark at South Park in a brazen daytime killing.
It is clear that all is not well in T&T. Crime continues to surge out of control.
Late last year two new Cape class patrol boats were commissioned to patrol the waters of T&T. The TTS Scarborough and the TTS Port-of-Spain each cost US$38.6 million.
They are well equipped for various missions, one of which must be to stop the illegal trade in weapons.
As the murder count continues to climb and as gun crimes continue to escalate there is urgent need for the authorities to utilise every asset at their disposal to rid the country of the gun scourge. The illegal flow of guns and drugs through porous borders of T& T must be halted. T&T cannot afford for this to continue.
On January 21, the TTPS informed the country it had seized 29 firearms and 312 rounds of ammunition for the year so far.
That is a drop in the bucket to what really exists. But every bit helps and the police must be encouraged to continue their drive to remove illegal firearms from communities.
High-powered weapons must be seized and those holding them feel the full weight of the law. The spate of lawlessness in T&T must be curbed. Crime and criminality cannot be allowed to continue unabated in 2022. One month in this new year has gone and the murder count is already high. If the problem of gun crimes is to be stopped, it must start now.
