By Sen. Hon. Maxine Seymour – This past Saturday, in broad daylight, gunfire claimed the lives of young men and injured others — leaving an entire neighborhood reeling. The brazenness of such daytime violence is chilling.
Early reports point to gang involvement. That may help explain the motive, but it does not excuse the cause. Gangs flourish where opportunity fades — when schools lack resources, jobs are scarce, and young people have nowhere safe to belong. When the doors to a better future stay shut, the wrong ones swing wide open.
Simply locking people up is not a solution. It is a band-aid on a broken system, and it will not make the problem go away. Real change requires uprooting the causes, not just punishing the symptoms.
The government must accept responsibility. They have not done enough to prevent illegal weapons from flooding our shores and ending up in the wrong hands. We do not manufacture guns in The Bahamas, yet gangs and criminals have alarming access to high-powered weapons. Each firearm on our streets is evidence of a breakdown in border control, enforcement, and national security priorities.
This cannot continue. We must stem the flow of firearms into our islands and dismantle the trafficking networks that move them. We must confront this crisis head-on, while also investing — consistently and seriously — in education, jobs, mental health care, and effective community policing.
This violence is playing out in broad daylight because the root issues remain unaddressed. There are no quick fixes, but we already know what works. What’s missing is the political will to act with urgency and compassion.
We must prove that our society values its young men enough to protect them, give them better options, and place their futures at the center of our national priorities. They are the builders, the thinkers, the problem solvers who will shape our future. They are needed to stand strong alongside women, to grow families, to sustain our population, and to drive the progress of The Bahamas. Their lives matter deeply — and the success of our nation depends on investing in them now and always.
We are nothing without our men.
