Arm law-abiding citizens

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I am writing with reference to the recent carnage in Clarendon, where people were shot dead in a drive-by shooting. It struck me that the total members in the crowd must have substantially outnumbered the gunmen, yet none of the partygoers returned fire on the murderers. The reason is quite simple; none of the partygoers had guns.

Over the years I have written about violent crime in Jamaica, where I offered solutions to substantially reduce it. The theme of my letters is usually centred around the inability of the police to protect our citizens, while citizens generally lack the means to protect themselves.

I quote from one of my previous letters to The Gleaner: “Our security forces, in most cases of mass shootings, are reacting after the murders take place. We need, therefore, to give our poor, defenceless, decent, and law-abiding citizens the ability to protect themselves.”

Currently, only the Jamaican elite are able to meet the requirements to obtain firearm permits, but the vast majority of persons being killed by gun violence are from depressed communities.

The criminals, as we are aware, seem to have no difficulty acquiring illegal weapons, and certainly do not apply to the authorities for firearm licences. They drive around and kill people with the knowledge that they will not be challenged and gunfire will not be returned.

The average response time by our law-enforcement units, in an active shooter situation is long, while many mass shootings are already over in less than 10 minutes. The killers are able to make their escape long before the police arrive on the scene. Those few minutes can be the difference between life and death. The best way to reduce the mass murders is to arm more law-abiding people.

We have some of the strictest gun control laws in the world, yet we see frequent mass shootings. We must give our citizens the ability to protect themselves.

NORMAN MARSH