It was not that long ago that I wrote about my dislike of guns. My Friend P reminded me of this when the announcement came about the proposed change in the police force from the nearly standard of issue of an M16 assault rifle to an MP5 semi-automatic rifle.

Well, of course, you know my position; a gun is a gun is a gun! So unless the plan was to move from an M16 to an MP3 player, I'm really unsure what on earth it is that has changed. And check the names of the things an 'assault rifle', jeessh! Nuff said.

I, of course, would never advocate in our undeclared-civil-war-torn-society that our lawmen roam the streets with their bare hands, or worse, with wooden batons and handcuffs only!

Oh no, I understand that it is a war out there; just take in the news each day, more people seemed to be shot than any other form of injury. Stabbing, drowning, hit by a car, being choked to death, burning up in a building, none of these seemed to be as frequently reported as the now mundane 'Man found dead with bullet wounds to the ...'

So the enemy called 'the gun' is quite real in Jamaica.

What I am at pains to understand is how it makes a real difference to the life of the innocent whether a policeman points an M16 or MP5 at them. I want to be corrected here because I am quite ignorant of what the relative power is of these weapons. But I, of course, am troubled because I think that the relative ability of these weapons to cease breath in humans is probably quite consistent.

Along comes the bullet at your head from the MP5, and you can say, "Oh thank the Lord, it's an MP5 slug coming my way, not an M16, this means I will die in 10 seconds, not two. Praises be to God!"

The real core of this issue, though, has to do with the real purpose of the cops being armed with high-powered weapons. If the cops are armed to shoot at the bad guys [and so the good guys might get shot too] then they need to have the lower-powered gun, but people will get killed anyway. However, if the cops are armed to protect themselves from the bad guys, then they need big bad guns because they will be better able to fire back shots when they are being shot at, and people will get killed anyway. Yes, I think the outcome is pretty much the same at the end of the day.

Anyway, P and I are still digesting the latest suggestion by the new commish. He says lose the fixation with the guns and out-think the bad guys. Hmmm. Wasn't it a thought process that said if I get a bigger 'badder' gun I will kick the cops butt in the first place? Hmmm. I wonder who outthought who?

Email your comments to: myfriendp@hotmail.com

What I am at pains to understand is how it makes a real difference to the life of the innocent whether a policeman points an M16 or MP5 at them.