Owning a gun

I AGREE with the letter from Sylvester in The National of last Thursday. Some people have very realistic reasons for owning a gun – mostly rifles – for hunting etc.
I for one have been travelling Milne Bay waters to and from the district of Esa’ala.
Most times we sea voyagers travelling in fear.
Sharks and dinghies capsizing due to rough seas and going adrift for days because of engine failure are scary things to think about on a voyage where your home is 100 kilometres away.
Not to mention sea pirates.
These merciless freaks, mostly teenagers and sick adults, don’t care about your safety.
On my last trip a month ago, I was told there were four consecutive hold-ups on civilians travelling home from East Cape the month before.
There actually could be more from stories told by nearby villages.
Of these piracy cases, two got me so sick to the bone I wish I had a gun.
In one case, civilians were asked to swim to the shore which was as far as Port Moresby to the Lions Island. The pirates took the dinghy and belongings.
The current there was treacherous.
A lady and her baby drowned, as well as her two other children and some adults.
Those who made it ashore reported the incident to the local police, who could not do anything because the sea pirates had stolen their dinghy.
They were handicapped.
Where’s the district authority or the MP.
The other was also sickening.
The sea pirates held up a dinghy and told the passengers, both male and female, young and old, to undress.
They then took their clothes and all their belongings.
This included their shopping that they had worked so hard for, and the dinghy’s engine.
They were left with no clothes, and where the winds pick up speed constantly and drop in temperatures.
Hearing this, I seriously wished I had guns.
We sometimes hear that some of these pirates are caught but then released.
In one incident, the pirates held up a school called Ubuya Vocational, because they wanted money and fuel for their dinghies.
They cut the headmaster’s arms and shot a young girl at point-blank range.
The teachers and students could not do anything as they were all hostages.
How the staff wished they had guns, I was told.
If the government is not going to stop these villains and protect the innocent people in my province or anyone’s province, the people themselves will.
That’s going to happen with or without your ‘Gun Licensing Act’ or whatever you call it.

Had Enough Citizen