Orville Taylor | Children, Chang and guns

“I have no live rounds or spent shells in my possession, sir!” Major Bob Allen walked the entire line demanding that the boys make such a declaration. Mid-1970s, Jamaica was in the middle of an undeclared civil war. Illegal weapons were flowing into poor communities and members of parliament and aspirants spared little effort as boys, some of them that could not spell gun; not even an M16 could they spell, because it was too big. A Beretta is a smaller firearm; perhaps he could spell it.

As the intimidating figure of Allen performed a routine-like muster, the cadets were nervous, although they had coughed up all of the five 303 rounds they had used. Two hours earlier, a little tar-black 14-year-old, holding the rifle awkwardly and charging the weapon with his left hand, inhales and squeezes. With a kick close to his half of his 85 pounds, the rifle pitches the youth airborne. He has four more rounds and a semi-dislocated shoulder to contend with. The target is retrieved; one miss, one magpie, one inner, one outer and bullseye.

“Come here Penny Cigar! Where did you learn to shoot?” How do I tell this man that I was too poor to have even bought a toy gun and never fired a gun in my life? It certainly did not help that my domicile is Brooke Valley, one of the newer garrisons. After all, if the NWC can charge you sewage rates for simply living within 100 yards of a ‘doodo pipe’; then Allen and late RSM Walcott must clearly think that there was some ‘training’.

Months later at annual camp at Moneague, rubbing shoulders with adult soldiers on the V-150 armoured vehicle, I shared tents with several youth from non-traditional secondary schools and even Up Park Camp Headquarters-based Independent Unit. Years later, one of these ex-cadets was a defendant in one of the landmark murder trials in Jamaica. Another of my ‘bredren’, an amazing bugler, was killed by the police and a firearm taken from him. One more youth, nicknamed ‘Mafia’, friends with my drum major, scared the faecal matter out of me. Hopefully, he did not meet the same fate as the others.

REMINDS ME OF A CADET

Current Minister of National Security Horace Chang reminds me of a cadet who was Quartermaster or Sergeant Major at Cornwall College back then. If it is not him, forgive me for the subtle racist stereotype. Let us be truthful, however. Many 1970s cadets were given skills, which, if misplaced in the wrong hands, could be and were disastrous to the country.

It might seem like a knee-jerk reaction by an exasperated Chang, who declared that he was going to use a broad brush as the security forces seem impotent to bring the homicide rate under control. His intention is to essentially prevent youngsters between 12 and 17 from having access to firearms. Most targeted are gun clubs, who have competitive shooting involving even 12-years-olds. If Chang is the ex-cadet I remember, then I understand his keeping the privilege of using guns not owned by these ‘children’ as an exception. After all, the Jamaica Combined Cadet Force (JCCF) is under the remit of the Jamaica Defence Force, and thus the prime minister’s portfolio.

There are two issues here: knowledge and access. If the teenagers have no access to guns outside of the controlled environment of the JCCF or gun clubs, they can only shoot off their mouths. Preventing children from handling guns at home is a big deal. The year 2020 saw a record number of 3,410 American children and teens dying from guns in America. Since 1999, this number has steadily increased by almost 5 per cent. Most of the victims are non-Hispanic Black and White. Accidental shootings in the home have also steadily increased. Yet, there is evidence that ‘trained’ children are less likely to accidentally shoot or be shot. However, children participating in American gun safety programmes are not less likely to misuse them. Thus, the single most important variable is keeping the guns out of the hands of children, unless they are in controlled environments. Homes do not qualify as such.

However, unlike police officers, soldiers and correctional officers, and even private firearm users who are required to be screened, JCCF youth do not jump any of these hurdles. Simple question to the ministers, “Do you know who those ‘left-right-left’ boys and girls are, whom you are training?” Make no bones about it, many of my peers from the 1970s to early 1980s learned skills that impressed the training officers in the JDF and JCCF later. Ask any of my Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) senior men about the kind of police office Echo T. Thomas was. We all were ‘badass’ cadets. Had he and many others gone left instead of right, then the outcome would have been ugly.

Therefore, the minister does have a point, because gun knowledge stays in one’s head. We really have to be cautious in this endeavour, though, because he may be focusing on the wrong set of youth. Speaking first hand, I identify with the entertainer Turbulence in Notorious.

- Dr Orville Taylor is head of the Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.