SVG needs secure borders – too many guns!

SVG needs secure borders. There are too many guns and too much gun crime. When we say too many guns, we are referring to illegal guns. Why are all these guns being allowed into the country?

Our borders are not secure. The many illegal guns and ammunition that enter the country fuel a lot of the crime in SVG. Every week we hear about gun-related crime — murders, people in possession of illegal guns and ammunition, people injured by guns, robbery at gunpoint, etc. and the list goes on.

In THE VINCENTIAN newspaper just last week, there were reports of two more murders - people who were shot. Gun crime is out of control in SVG.

SVG needs a Minister of Security that is competent and has the ability to secure our borders and stop the illegal entry of guns into SVG. All our people are at risk of gun crime; it is not uncommon for people to be hit by stray bullets; bullets intended for other people.

Our ports are not secure and our shoreline is not secure. We need to stop illegal guns entering our country. All this murdering is a waste of life and very, very sad. These deaths are unnecessary. We need secure borders. Better surveillance and intelligence about our borders are needed. Blaming the USA is lazy thinking. Waiting for the USA to solve this problem will get us nowhere. People are being murdered with guns almost every week in SVG. We need to secure our borders ourselves. Our communities are under threat, because of incompetent government. Our government needs to solve this, not wait for the USA.

Gun crime destroys communities. Government has failed to deal with the pervasive presence of illicit small arms and ammunition, and this is a daily threat to the health, safety, security and development of our people and businesses. Our people have dreams and aspirations to achieve many things in their life. Their dreams and aspirations require peace and security for them to be achieved.

There are many tools to fight the illegal gun trafficking into SVG, but the government seems not capable of dealing with this serious problem. We should also end licensed firearms. Ordinary people do not need guns. Also, when these licensed guns get stolen, they end up in the hands of criminals.

Warrant Officer Ivan O’Neal BSc (Hons), MSc, MBA, Leader of SVG Green Party, strongly believes we also need to deal with the reasons some people turn to crime and that is poverty, inequalities, injustice, climate change and unemployment, for example. The weak economy, poor education system, lack of jobs and high taxes are significant contributors to people turning to crime.

These issues could easily be corrected if we had a government competent in finance and economics. SVG needs a different government to reduce gun crime. We need a zerotolerance approach to firearms in our communities and competent control of our currently porous borders to enforce this. We need secure borders.