Dear Editor,

Gun violence is all over Jamaica, every day, every month and every year. It is the main cause of homicide. Gun violence does not exist because we are naturally violent, or because we have a violent culture. It is there because of a long string of bad decisions made by individuals in the communities. When a citizen, young or old, male or female is struck down by a bullet, it is not because the person is in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is because some way, somehow, the perpetrator is able to get a gun when the easy access should have been prevented.

For years, intelligence-gathering in Jamaica uncovered numerous sources or ways that guns arrived in Jamaica illegally – especially from the United States and Haiti. Efforts have been made to curtail the flow. But I believe that too many guns are on the island. Guns by themselves are useful tools in the right hands but they become deadly weapons or instruments in the wrong hands. Therefore, strong gun-control laws must be put in place to prevent guns from reaching the wrong hands.

Let us all try to have a peaceful and violence-free Christmas season.

Charlie Brown

Morant Bay, St Thomas

charliebrown1004@hotmail.com