The Editor, Sir:

In March 2005, I wrote The Gleaner and asked that Jamaica consider banning all firearms from the island. In response, I received several negative letters suggesting that I was wrong, stupid, or just wasting my time with such a 'frivolous' suggestion.

No doubt politicians read it and never gave it a second thought. Law enforcement read it and probably gave it a chuckle. Solicitors, church leaders and school teachers read it and just shook their heads, all knowing that nothing would come of it.

Even with the U.S.'s love for guns, last year alone in Jamaica, in relative percentages, ten times as many people died from gun violence as in the United States, and despite all efforts to stop or even reverse the flood of killings, the nation continues courting tourists with gleeful abandon and trying to hide the truth that it is still the 'murder capital of the world.'

Two years later, U.S. parents mourn their children in Virginia, and in the islands, grown men play games on wide, green fields while tourists indulge themselves with hedonistic delight. At the same time, several thousand more are dead because no one had the courage to act upon such a 'frivolous' suggestion.

I am, etc.,

ED McCOY

Peace Corps Volunteer

Jamaica XII Project,

1971-1972

Bokeelia. FL

Via Go-Jamaica