ALTHOUGH I am of sound body, mind and spirit I have never applied for a Firearm User’s Licence or owned a firearm. The closest I have gotten to a firearm is the World War Two rifles that the cadets use in drills. Anyone knowing them will confirm that they are as heavy as the Rock of Gibraltar and as dead as a doornail.

Our Prime Minister has sided with Mexico in condemning the US for the production of arms and boosting the gun trade. They have further accused them of perpetuating gun violence now engulfing the planet.

The mighty USA is not going to allow any pipsqueak nation close down its billion-dollar arms industry that props up its world dominance. No nation dare ask that of the ‘policemen of the world’. Unbridled insanity has reached the stage that wars are instigated to support an industry that thrives on the destruction of lives and property.

In T&T apparently high-profile people have their wires crossed because, as a follow-up, our gunlaws do not make it more difficult to acquire firearms or to renew licences.

In this wild, wild west of gunplay diplomacy we are fast becoming a trigger-happy people. Administrators have hired guns for protection. People of prominence use guns to protect their person and so-called assets. The police use it as their number one instrument in fighting crime. Some ordinary citizens use it as an application of justice to settle domestic violence scores, while John Doe is discouraged from associating with this product as easy but lengthy incarceration awaits unlawful possession and guilty conviction.

Only normal human beings do not depend on guns for protection. Guns provide a false sense of protection. Statistics will show that many owners when dispossessed stood helplessly before criminals when life was at stake. So why live that lie?

A politician even suggested to ‘light up the clip’ if confronted by criminals, an abuse of this make-belief power.

A previous commissioner of police ignorantly encouraged women to apply for FULs in retaliation as they keep getting the dirty end of the stick. That leaves only men as abusers and sitting ducks.

I am ignorant of the laws governing the acquisition and use of firearms. It appears that a significant percentage of the security forces and ordinary citizens are entrusted with firearms to protect themselves. From whom I don’t know. I am in partial agreement with the present Commissioner of Police that for renewal and acquisition (in and out of the service) all candidates should undergo (1) Psychological testing to ensure that only balanced personalities are entrusted with such responsibility.

(2) Annualmedical testing from a registered medical practitioner and (3) Training as indicated by a certificate of competence from a certified firearms instructor. Even though they are all in the same class of retardation. Whereas, the above do not guarantee that only the right people gain access to usage or there will be no abuse, there will be some sincerity in controlling and it makes the folly of the ignorance look good.

Classifying guns as legal and illegal will not ensure proper usage or reduce the violence. It is a lame excuse for the continued production of arms and another senseless way to classify death. Guns are produced for one purpose for which there is no justification.

Shutting down the industry will only hurt the profiteers of gun violence and expose the mental deficiency of those who believe in the safety it provides.

Do guns help or hurt our existence?

Lennox Francis

Couva