THE EDITOR, Sir:
THIS EASTER Sunday morning in Jamaica, as the Christian majority celebrate the holiest of its religious days, the nation suffers the highest level of violence since the horrific, bygone days of the great slave revolts.
On Palm Sunday, The Gleaner published a letter I wrote calling for the banning of all firearms on the island. The response of the pro-gun activists was swift and strong and, as could have been expected, full of 'gobbledygook' statistics and fear-mongering propaganda.
In rebuttal, and keeping with the true message of Easter, let me simply ask this:
This year, and for how many years to come, will Jamaica's young people die in drive-by 'choppings'? How many more times will there be 'sling-shot and cutlass' battles in downtown Kingston? How many more times will Jamaican mothers hold innocent children in their arms, victims of stray 'knife' stabbings?
"We just can't ban firearms," I hear the critics saying, "because it will not make any difference."
Without a ban on firearms, this year and for years to come Jamaican mothers will continue to sacrifice their sons, and daughters as well, not to end slavery, not to defend their country's freedom and, most certainly, not to wash away the sins of the world. They will do so for no other reason than the evil, insane notion of wanting to protect the so-called 'right' of a few to own and use a gun.
I am, etc.,
ED McCOY
mmhobo48@juno.com
Bokeelia, Florida
Via Go-Jamaica
