Jamaica Gleaner News - A gun for two cold beers - Commentary - Wednesday | November 10, 2010

Jamaica Gleaner News - A gun for two cold beers - Commentary - Wednesday | November 10, 2010: "Evidence from Jamaica, other Caribbean countries, and the United States overwhelmingly demonstrate that gun amnesties and buy-backs are ineffective anti-crime tools. They serve as little more than good photo opportunities for politicians. The only gun-amnesty programme that might be remotely successful is one that deceives a criminal into thinking that he is being granted amnesty. When he shows up to turn in his old rusty nine, the police, accompanied by actor Ashton Kutcher, would then throw on the cuffs and duly inform him that he has been 'punk'd'. Now that's a 'gun amnesty' programme I would support. Guns don't commit crimes, people do. Our most pressing priority should be finding ways to get these people - these criminals - off the streets, either by throwing them in jail if they continue to break the law, or by encouraging and facilitating alternative pathways for them to lead productive lives. Likewise, pastors, priests and reverends don't govern nations (Ronnie Thwaites, notwithstanding) and although they play important roles in the public discourse, their most pressing priority should be praying to our God to grant us (and themselves) amnesty for the sins that have brought these great calamities upon our nation. In any case, I must go, now. There's just too much chicken on the streets, so I need to visit the pan chicken man to engage in a chicken exchange: money for jerk chicken. I'll proceed to quickly destroy the chicken (after saying grace, of course). That should certainly curtail the flow of chicken in our society."