Frankly, the easy accessibility of handguns in The Bahamas is a cause for consternation and a national issue that should be effectively addressed... Illegal firearm sales and smuggling operations within the archipelago has led to a number of killings of youngsters—most likely with drugs, money or women as the central figure of a dispute... and has created a breeding ground for the criminal element (drug traffickers, gangs, migrant workers, terrorists, organized crime, etc) to access these dangerous weapons and cause mayhem

The Great Gun Trade-In

By ADRIAN GIBSON

ajbahama@hotmail.com




THESE days, maniacal criminals are increasingly using guns as their weapon of choice as they disrupt the serenity of our once tranquil islands, going on murderous rampages, robbing families of loved ones and callously committing heinous crimes with no regard for the law. That said, it is high-time that the government imposes a heavily promoted amnesty (28-30 days) for the turn over of illegal guns whilst instituting a no-questions-asked, gun buy-back programme.

Although there will likely be challenges and valid concerns such as the uneasiness about persons possibly using money’s given for trade-ins to purchase weapons, genuine interest for public safety dictates that something must be done and that those fears, whilst likely, will not be predominant.

The wave of gun violence that appears to be sweeping across the streets of New Providence week after week has left many residents terrified by the thought that this small island is becoming like the Wild West as we are constantly inundated with reports of the grisly carnage caused by gun violence or told about high-speed chases and dramatic gun battles between rival gangs or of emboldened outlaws engaging the police in gun fights.

As of today, there have been 109 murders for the year 2011, most of which involved a gun. These days, gunshots are fired from cars—in broad daylight— on busy thoroughfares, in bustling neighborhoods, in crowded nightspots and hoodlums have no qualms about nonchalantly engaging the police in shootouts.

The growing trend of anti-social behaviour is rapidly leading to a state of social chaos, where boorish persons barbarously roam the streets like wild animals engaging in feral, homicidal behaviour to indulge their unabated anger. The senseless actions of uncivilized, dim-witted persons are rapidly casting the Bahamas in the image of a crime-ravaged hellhole on the brink of social implosion. There is no wonder why Bahamians—stricken by fear—have voluntarily chosen to live in virtual imprisonment, locked behind iron bars (windows), bolted doors and screens, and sheltered behind iron gates. In their state of paralysis, law abiding Bahamians have become more distrustful and are swiftly arming themselves with cutlasses, shot guns, bats and other safety measures to ensure their security.

Admittedly, I am a licensed gun owner and I support the right of Bahamians to legally bear arms, particularly in instances such as hunting or self-defense. Moreover, I would support a greater issuance of hand gun licenses to those Bahamians who meet the strictest of qualifications. As it stands, as a policy of the government, the issuance of hand gun licenses is strictly within the purview of the Prime Minister.

'Black market'

The Bahamas, a country with a recently proposed regime for implementing stricter gun laws, has seen a proliferation of guns/ammunition on its streets that I’m told is easily accessible and for hire to any deranged criminal. Undoubtedly, the spiraling street warfare in this country—particularly New Providence—is fuelled by the alarmingly high importation/smuggling and circulation of illegal firearms (from assault rifles to hand guns) primarily from the United States, that has given raise not only to the lawless behaviour that we now see but also to a ‘black market’ that profits on the trade of illegal weapons.

Frankly, the easy accessibility of handguns is a cause for consternation and a national issue that should be effectively addressed. Illegal firearm sales and smuggling operations within the archipelago has led to a number of killings of youngsters—most likely with drugs, money or women as the central figure of a dispute—and has created a breeding ground for the criminal element (drug traffickers, gangs, migrant workers, terrorists, organized crime, etc) to access these dangerous weapons and cause mayhem.

A few years ago, in a speech given at the CARICOM-US Partnership to Combat Illicit Trafficking in Arms Seminar, held in Nassau, National Security minister Tommy Turnquest said that the illegal trade in small arms, light weapons and ammunition was creating an “illicit trafficking phenomenon” as the illegal migrant and drug trade has created a single criminal enterprise.

‘Engaging Persons’

According to Mr Turnquest:

"Such criminal enterprises are engaging persons across national borders in much the same way that legitimate multi-national businesses do, bringing serious distortion to the concept of globalization."

"Whether arms in such enterprises are exchanged for money or for drugs, or are used to protect illicit shipments of persons or commit murders, assaults, robberies and other crimes; to intimidate and threaten and to enhance status, or other reasons, they contribute to the widespread availability of firearms in the region.”

The Bahamas is extremely vulnerable to the trafficking of nearly all illicit items—including small arms and automatic weapons—primarily due to its central location between the air and sea routes of North and South/Central America as well as Europe.

It is therefore imperative that we implement gun trade-in and buy-back programmes, similar to those adopted by places such as Baffalo (NY) and Atlantic City, to encourage persons to fork over illegal firearms to the authorities. Furthermore, a conscientious effort must be made to curb the importation of other potentially lethal weapons such as low power air pistols, replica guns and paintball guns. Sadly, it seems that our strict gun laws may only affect those law-abiding citizens, as thousands of handguns remain in circulation and outlaws are constantly packing heat, while striking fear into the hearts of already caged-in residents.

I would propose that such a programme is financed by an asset forfeiture fund, using seized money or money garnered from the auctioning of seized properties belonging to persons convicted of criminal acts such as illegal drug smuggling.

Frankly, the government, corporate partners and the church could highlight such a programme using the airwaves, the pulpit, disc jockeys in clubs, marketing companies, etcetera, whilst also affixing a firm deadline that concludes both the amnesty and buy-back period.

Indeed, a gun buy-back initiative should be inclusive of a multipronged approach. Individuals turning in unlicensed firearms should be given gift certificates and/or, more so—in conjunction with a cooperating banking facility—these persons could be issued pre-paid cash cards in varying denominations, which bear the monies collected from their turn over of such dangerous weapons. There are some jurisdictions that even incorporate a guns-for-groceries approach. For such a programme to work, the types of guns/ammunition and buy-back monies must be categorized—that is, $25 for all non-working guns (inclusive of pellet and BB guns); $80 for rifles/shotguns; $200 for handguns; and $350 for assault weapons (eg, Uzis, AK 47s, etc).

Reduce arsenal

Indeed, whilst a gun buy-back campaign can yield mountains of guns, due care must be given not to have the approach bastardized by gun dealers and/or collectors who may wish to unload cheap or old guns at a profit and careful accounting must be taken of the guns collected at all gun buy-back outlets. The goal is to reduce the arsenal particularly within the inner city and effectively bring about a widespread disarmament across the archipelago.

The police should also check their databases to determine the number of gun owners who are not up to date with their licensing and get on with the business of seizing these firearms and apprehending these persons.

Instead of pontificating about petty political matters, the church could have a huge impact in the fight against violent crime and the removal of guns off of the streets. In fact, there should be an amnesty period where unlicensed gun toters can feel protected if they take a gun to one of the many churches in our communities.

Furthermore, in taking guns off the streets, we must launch a practical, effective campaign that incorporates the government, the private sector and the public. There should not be a hint of the petty politics and political gimmicks portrayed by many self-serving politicians!

Gain intelligence

In the Bahamas we may soon need to establish an agency or department similar to the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agency in the US, whose sole purpose would be to gain intelligence and crackdown on the illegal weapons trade. These days, it is imperative that the police force continue upgrading its armaments as I continue to see officers on the beat without bulletproof vests and carrying six-shooter (.38) revolvers that they hope would counter the sophisticated, high-powered weaponry of criminals that wear body armour and carry guns with magazines that hold 15 or more rounds.

Police officers must be heavily deployed in those boroughs with the highest instances of crime and must strengthen their relationship with certain communities, thereby bettering their intelligence-gathering abilities.

Published: October 29, 2011 in the column Young Man’s View in The Tribune’s ‘The Big T’
 
Caribbean Blog International

The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about gangs and gangsters in The Bahamas

“...scary stuff...”
By Felix F. Bethel
Rough Cut
jonesbahamas


"Most of the youth gangs will mess with you just because they see you walking by yourself and you might have something on you that they want: watch, chain, shoes…" Pastor Carlos Reid.

Next year this time, I might be dead; long gone – and thereafter on sweet way to oblivion; and so today I must now pray: Lord God Almighty – maker of heaven and earth - deliver me now from the snares of the Evil One; and in Your mercy show me the way to paradise.

As I pray for you, - my brothers and sisters – so I implore that, you also pray for me; and since I have within me an ever rising fountain of tears for my beloved Bahamas, my prayers today are also for Pastor Carlos Reid, a beautiful brother who brings us so much scary news from the bleeding heart of the whirlwind.

I am told that, “Pastor Reid is certified in gang prevention and intervention skills by the National Gang and Crime Research Centre of the United States of America.”

While I am told this stuff about Reid, I know it for a fact that, Halloween is on its scary way to The Bahamas.

I am really scared.

Pastor Reid tells us all that, “Bahamian gangs are not constituted in the same way as American gangs, or Jamaican gangs. Pastor Reid said American gangs are "more organized crime gangs", and Jamaican gangs are "political gangs".

“Organized crime gangs are often underground organizations that run the entire community, including housing projects, businesses and politicians.

"It doesn't mean we don't have gangs. We basically have youth gangs. The problem is, America started off just as we did and we don't want to get where America is," said Pastor Reid.

"We are seeing the formation of these groups really to protect themselves. To be honest, in The Bahamas, just being by yourself is a risk.

This is a scary thought.

But seriously now, to hear this brother speak about peace in the streets, the curative power of basketball and about the gang phenomenon, you know that you are in the presence of a certified and surely expert, Gangologist.

The man tells me that, “The Blue Hills’ playing fields is known as the "killing fields", according to Pastor Reid, who said, "every day there is a fight going on out there".

"Let us look at Government High School. When you have to walk through Yellow Elder, where the Hornets are, if you are a Rebellion they know and you are getting it," said Pastor Reid.

“Once a student lives in a certain area, they are automatically assumed to be in a "particular clique". A GHS student said there was a fight in school yesterday because of gangs. The fight was sparked because a student from the Grove "trespassed" in Rebellion territory.

As Reid notes, "Now think about this. If you know someone wants to chap you up and kill you, do you really think you can focus on your school work? The only thing you are thinking about is: how am I going to get out of here after school?"

{Well, gadjammit! If I had such certified intelligence driven information, I would demand that my idiot parents go to school in my stead.

{But yet, that is how a fool like me would react to the specter of gun and gang-violence at school. What a calamity for us all when information like the scary stuff being peddled by this pastor and others becomes the commonsense of people who should know better.}

But not to worry, Reid is all over this story concerning gangs; since he is –after all- an expert. As the newspaper reports, “Having had intimate knowledge of the how the groups operate, Reid said the war is far from over.”Soon we're going to see violence all over the place, because no one wants to take 'the last'. If you attack someone belonging to my gang, then I'm going to take my vengeance out on someone in your gang. That's just the way it is," Reid said.

“Asked why there were so many school boys joining gangs, Reid explained that the students crave to feel like they are a part of something. He added that it is hard not to get involved in a gang because one of the alternatives is to become a target of the gangs.

"They have to protect themselves," he said.

According to him, there are about 50 youth gangs in the Bahamas with the "Rebellions" who have about 14 different sections representing the largest group...”

Mommy, Mommy, I am now scared, scared-scared; this stuff is really scary. Indeed, some of this stuff is so scary that, I now feel obliged – in a very public kind of way – to send out kudos to Pastor Carlos Reid for the yeoman’s work he has been doing in this beloved land of conch slop, pomp, pageantry and on occasion, some of the purest bull the law would allow.

My congratulations go out to this brother for the fine work he has been doing in “alerting” the nation to the rot that is within; with particular reference to what he cites as revealed fact; this being the extent to which Bahamian society is riddled with gangs and gangsters.

My thanks come in floods and torrents to the good pastor for his wisdom and insight when he tells me, the Commissioner of Police, Ellison Greenslade, Marvin Dames, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Missouri Sherman-Peter, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, her minister, the Hon. Orville Alton “Tommy” Turnquest, the Rt. Hon. Hubert Alexander Ingraham, the Rt. Hon. Perry Gladstone Christie – their party members, the Bahamian people and billions of other people around the world, what gang violence is all about in the Bahamas.

As the good pastor learnedly affirms, “…"A lot of the killings we have seen this year are retaliation killings. When someone gets killed, you are not just getting rid of that person, because that person is attached to an immediate family and an extended family, the gang. The mentality is, when you kill one of us, in most cases we have to take one of your own," said Pastor Reid.

Pastor Reid also said that, "Almost every community has a feud going on with a different community. We have not properly addressed the issue of gangs. We have allowed situations to breed, and a lot of the people in the position to make a difference don't have a clue about what is going on," he said.

Pastor Reid also said that, Poinciana Drive is still known as "the Gaza Strip", according to Pastor Reid. It is the meeting ground of four different gang territories (Gun Dogs, Pond Boys, Rebellions and Nike Boys), and four different schools (CC Sweeting, HO Nash, TA Thompson and CR Walker).

Now hear this, “Pastor Carlos Reid is set to release an updated gang list this week, a document produced by the community-based non-profit Youth against Violence, which he leads. The list details the schools and communities that are "contaminated" with gangs.

Evidently, Cynthia “Mother” Pratt agrees with Pastor Carlos Reid. Mother reports that, “Ridgeland Park and the Grove are two communities featured on the list. They are said to have gangs that are involved in "wars" and "cross rivalry."

Allegedly and therefore allegedly - according to the word printed in the newspaper, Mother claims that, both communities are engaged in an endless spree of retaliations that are affecting the community.

And so, pretty please, are you not scared now that you KNOW the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; the gangsters are here.

But clearly, while you might be scared stiff; I am pretty certain that Pastor Reid is today smiling his very scary-way straight to the bank.

jonesbahamas

'Wake up to gang threat' Bahamas

'Wake up to gang threat'
By ALISON LOWE
Tribune Staff Reporter
alowe@tribunemedia.net:



THE country must wake up to the "epidemic" scale of gang activity and the affect it is having on the nation's education system, said Pastor Carlos Reid, who yesterday called for the establishment of a "Gang Unit".

In the wake of the stabbing of three school boys in a fight at C I Gibson Senior School, dubbed the worst on-campus incident of violence in the school's history, Pastor Reid, founder of Youth Against Violence, said school gang violence is getting worse and a new trend is emerging - girls in gangs and gang culture in the country's institutes of higher learning.

"There's a whole heap of that, and the girls are more violent than the boys," said Mr Reid, who works closely with troubled youths.  "The gang culture is now spinning off into the College of the Bahamas and BTVI."

On Thursday, three boys, two aged 16 and one 15, were stabbed and taken to hospital by emergency medical services.  Three 11th grade students were taken into police custody in connection with the stabbings, and a further ten students in grades 11 and 10 were taken into custody for fighting.

As of yesterday, one student remained in custody and the rest had been released pending further investigations.  All three injured students were still in hospital, and police were unable to confirm their condition.

Thursday's violence was reportedly over a girl, and Director of Education Lionel Sands said he did not believe it to be gang-related.

But Mr Reid said C I Gibson suffers from being in "the midst of lots of different warring zones", including Kemp Road, Wulff Road, Nassau Village and Fox Hill, where gangs such as the the Rebellions and the Fox Hill Dogs hold precedence.

Nonetheless, he stressed that C I Gibson is not unique in its plight, as "all of our schools are infected by this gang culture" which he feels can only be resolved through a focus on teaching "conflict resolution and mediation" to school children, along with an understanding that not all differences are a cause for a dispute.

Pastor Reid said he commonly sees problems arise when children have to switch schools - from junior to senior school for example - and then feel the need to have to "fight for their place" in a new system, or when children from one area are forced to attend school in another "territory" because of overcrowding at their local institution.

He suggested "restructuring" of schools to amalgamate junior and senior education would avoid these upheavals and therefore help reduce violence and encourage more respect for teachers, who would have been acquainted with students for a longer period of time.

Mr Reid, who works with troubled youth, said he wishes his organisation could get more involved with efforts to reach school children in conjunction with the Ministry of Education.

He lamented that a Taskforce for Safe Schools created by the Ministry of Education several months ago on which YAV had a seat has already seemed to fall by the wayside, having made little progress with no meetings held for "over two months".

"I've been agitating, we want to get involved, we want to get engaged.  I believe in this climate there has to be a gang unit.  Any fool could see we're in an epidemic.  We did a study about six years ago and found there were over 50 gangs in The Bahamas, and they had a population of 15,000 collectively.  It's grown significantly since then.  We can still try to go sleep and hope when we wake up it will go away but it won't," said Pastor Reid.

The youth counsellor said he is concerned when he sees gun rampages and massacres in schools in the United States in particular, and wonders how long it will be before such an attack happens in The Bahamas given the failure to successfully address the growing gang problem.

"What could stop The Bahamas from having one of those?  Those schools are more safe than our schools as far as their architectural design but our kids have the same mindset.  Are we going to wait until something happens then say there's a problem?  I believe all this money the government is borrowing for roads, they should be borrowing money to make the schools safe," said Pastor Reid.

Pastor Reid said fear of violence is stopping many children who may find their classes interesting from achieving their potential in school.

"This is going to be a scary place to be able to envision in the next five years.  Right now alot of kids are afraid to learn in school.  I've had a boy tell me that he'll be at school thinking '3 o'clock soon come and something could happen to me.  I can't concentrate on learning.'  Some kids say they have to leave school early, jump the wall to get out safe," said Mr Reid.

On Thursday, education officials "staggered" the release of 10th and 11th grade students from C I Gibson school to minimise the potential for more fights and retaliatory attacks, something which was also feared by several parents who gathered outside the locked school gates to call for their children to be released from classes immediately for their own safety.

At Youth Against Violence's Hope Centre, where a programme for suspended students is held, Pastor Reid said he has seen enrollment rise from 67 in the first year to 138 in the second year and over 300 this year.  He links the rise both to a growing awareness of the programme in the community and to more unruly behaviour among students on the whole.

The YAC founder said the programme provides a chance for students to re-focus themselves through participation in classes in mechanics, bodywork, video and audio labs, computers, music and more.

"What we're looking to be able to do is partner with some other agencies so that we could send some of kids to work in some of these different areas of employemnt for a week or two weeks, so they can be around a different breed of people.  These kids spend their lives having to navigate through a very differnt world," he said.

May 22, 2010

tribune242