Dear Editor,
During a conference with the various police commissioners in the Caribbean, Prime Minister Philip Davis spoke out about the arms trafficking crisis between America and The Bahamas, which became one the highlights of the convention in a good way.
It exposes the source of the problem that has plagued the country for decades, which is the gun runners who have been empowered by the drug trade and the Second Amendment.
For years, American arms traffickers and the various gangs of Nassau and Freeport have terrorized The Bahamas with no one to stand up to the carnage.
The prime minister’s statements may be a golden opportunity to reform the police’s crime-fighting strategies.
For starters, The Bahamas must recognize that its northern neighbor, the United States of America, has a fatal flaw in our relationship between The Bahamians and Americans.
While the Second Amendment and gun ownership will remain as a right in the US, Bahamians should call out that amendment and rightfully condemn its existence on the world stage on the basis of encouraging gun runners to buy as many weapons as they can to send them to Nassau, and the amount of deaths that follow from the drug trade and arms trafficking combined.
Secondly, the legislative and judicial branches should treat this heinous crime as an act of terrorism that is punishable by 35 years minimum to life in prison, regardless of nationality.
Soon after, the police and defense force must go after the smugglers at full force and stop them from ever making their delivery to the local gangs.
We need a clear answer and a viable solution from our northern neighbor to stem the tide of illegal firearms flowing into The Bahamas, but if the US fails to give the Bahamian people a viable solution, then the US should be simple economic clients to The Bahamas instead of being an ally.
Once that happens, The Bahamas will be better off by having India and Japan as our true allies, because they care more about economic growth and true prosperity for themselves and their allies, more so than our northern neighbor and our surrounding nations.
Sincerely,
— Ammaka Russell
