Today Newspaper St. Maarten

Another semi-automatic handgun has been, thankfully, confiscated by police. It was a close call after an accident that left the driver of a motorbike angry. Things could have escalated to the point where someone would have been shot and, possibly, killed.

There is a saying that if you walk around with a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail. In other words, having a gun on you in a moment of anger, especially when you’ve been hit by a car, may not always be a good idea.

We have written about this before. A pattern is emerging and it’s clear that there are a lot of guns on St. Maarten, and that any little incident, whether in a bar or on the road, can erupt into a full blown tragedy.

Again, we have to ask ourselves, why are these weapons so prevalent? Does our porous border and easily accessible entry points facilitate the importation and sale of illicit weapons? And just how many are there on the streets, one accident or fight away from being used?

Editorial: Close call by admin