‘Where are the guns coming from?’

from you? Most people do not recognise when they are angry. They only recognise when they have lost their anger,” the trained see over 200 hundred acts of violence towards the children.. . ‘shut yuh mout’. If a child is hot, tired and hungry they will cry, you slap the child . .

.without addressing why they are crying. And that child takes that violent act, that fight-orflight syndrome and they hold on to it. ( SDB Media) Clinical criminologist Kim Ramsay wants to know where the guns are coming from as Barbados struggles with an unprecedented number of murders for the early part of 2019. For the first 40 days 12 murders have been recorded, eight by firearm; compared to four murders for the same period last year and three in 2017.

“. . . We are at a crisis stage as it relates to firearms and it is something that law enforcement is grappling with, society is grappling with. We are still trying to determine the source of the problem of firearms. We don’t manufacture firearms in Barbados but we do know that there are several variables and factors that are causing firearms to come into the island,” Ramsay lamented during a panel discussion on crime and violence on Thursday night.

The discussion, hosted by the Queen’s College Association and entitled Getting Real About Crime,

also featured economist Jeremy Stephen and educator Donna Tull-Cox at the Husbands, St James school.

Police statistics show that in the past 32 years the island recorded on average two murders per month, 14 annually. Describing the present situation as “worrisome”, Ramsay said that the value system of Barbadians have changed to the point where a culture of violence has become accepted.

This challenge, she suggested, must be remedied immediately with preventative measures dealing with children in schools since younger persons are engaging in violent crimes.

However, while Tull-Cox agreed to some extent she contended that there was also a need for preventatives campaigns that targeted adults and taught them skills in communication, conflict resolution and controlling anger. She said often adults are the perpetrators without even being conscious of it.

“We tell people control your anger but how do you control something that has gotten away counsellor explained.

“We are having Agrofest this weekend and I can bet your bottom dollar that in one hour, if you are observant, you will