The fatal shooting early Sunday morning near a local nightclub (see related story) once more confirmed what was already clear. The proliferation of firearms has become a serious problem on the island.
A similar deadly incident took place in that location at the same time just five months ago. In both cases it happened outside the business, the only one of its kind open late in the area with mainly youngsters as clients.
But staff, including security, can hardly be expected to control the roadside or held accountable for what happens there. When people go around in public with loaded guns it doesn’t take much for tragedy to strike anywhere, especially if combined with – possibly excessive – alcohol and/or drugs consumption.
What exactly took place in this latest case is yet unclear, but it’s safe to say too many weapons are in the wrong hands. As reported in the Friday/Saturday edition, the Prosecutor’s Office in Curaçao has therefore intensified its war on illegal arms possession. Four persons were recently sentenced for such to prison terms ranging between 14 and 20 months.
The same newspaper carried a St. Maarten court story in which a man whose workers had found a gun near the job site stood trial. Although the judge believed their story, the employer had not turned the weapon in at the closest police station right away as required.
Instead, he took it to a bar hoping to meet an acquainted officer and give it to him. Reason was that a prior armed robbery conviction might have given others cause to doubt his credibility.
Although 20 months’ imprisonment of which 10 suspended was demanded, the defendant only received a conditional 120 hours of community service and two years probation. The fact that he had changed his life and become a law-abiding citizen since that earlier crime played a role.
Some may argue that even charging this man was waste of valuable resources. However, unless authorities deal with whatever type of unlicensed gun possession firmly, it will become a free-for-all that eventually leads to a modern-day Wild West.
