A ceremony was held at the Police College on Wednesday where 1,400 guns were encased in concrete. This was made possible through a donation by Mines Advisory Group, CARICOM IMPACS and the United States Embassy.

Minister of National Security, the Hon. Wayne Munroe spoke with reporters on the sidelines of the event about the significance of the encasement. He said, “it’s about ending the life cycle of a firearm. A firearm comes into being by creation. It can be illicit trafficked. It can be used in crime or in some of these cases it can be used in the ordinary course of law enforcement. Well to terminate the life cycle you not only destroy it but you have to encase it in concrete so that it can never, ever live again in anyway.”

Munroe also spoke about the need for cooperation from the general public in ridding the country of illegal weapons. “If you know your son has a gun. If you know somebody may be coming to kill your son that may bring death to your doorstep and so you should be telling the police where you know of these firearms existing. Because its all well and good, somebody may come for your son and you may find yourself crying for him in the road. But what is worse and what has happened here already is somebody comes for your son and you are in the car,” he said.  

Also in attendance at the event were Commissioner of Police, Shanta Knowles, Commodore of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, Floyd Moxey and US Charge d’Affaires, Kimberly F