With all the recent shootings and other gun offences people are understandably worried about the proliferation of firearms on the island. When more or less the same situation occurred in 2014 a “Stop, Drop and Go” campaign was held in St. Maarten urging people to hand in their illegal weapons without repercussions as long as they weren’t used in crimes, while a similar exercise took place on the
French side.
On the Dutch side alone 72 firearms were collected, several of them pretty old. That’s a considerable number, although it’s likely there weren’t a lot of potential delinquents among the persons involved.
Still, many believe that the fewer guns are out there, the better. After all, licensed weapons too often end up in the wrong hands, as witnessed by the fact that even one belonging to the former police chief was stolen from his home.
By the same token, anything that can be done to reduce the influx of firearms is obviously welcome. It’s been argued in this column before that a container scanner would be a good first step.
Sure, with all the basically unguarded beaches and bays it’s relatively easy to smuggle items into the island, but there are indications they also may be coming through the cargo port at Pointe Blanche. As other harbours have found, including those of Curaçao and Aruba, the most effective way to control freight nowadays is by scanning containers.
Perhaps the incentive to do so is greater elsewhere because import duties are levied there, but the safety and security of the population are at stake. Nobody is suggesting each and every container must be inspected, but a modern scanner can at least facilitate spot checks in a relatively short time without obstructing the flow of goods that much.
Getting one and putting it into operation as soon as possible actually seems like a no-brainer.
