Education ministry warns of gun threat

Stakeholders are sounding the alarm over the explosive rise in gun circulation across Jamaica, expressing deep fears that even more firearms could end up in the hands of students and find their way into the nation's schools.

Richard Troupe, acting director of safety and security in the Ministry of Education and Youth, warned that children are now dangerously exposed to both legal and illegal weapons, sometimes within their very classrooms.

"We already saw the impact of this on our education system," Troupe said the project closure for the Reducing Small Arms & Light Weapons in Jamaica joint programme (SALIENT Jamaica) held at Terra Nova Hotel in St Andrew on Wednesday.

Troupe said noted a recent incident in which a submachine gun was found in the possession of a seven-year-old child at a school in St Elizabeth.

"When that [incident] was brought to the attention of the school leader, she nearly fainted," Troupe said.

He stressed the urgent need to protect children and reinforce school safety as the country grapples with an entrenched gun problem.

"As a small developing country, we should be very concerned, not just as a Ministry of Education, we should be very concerned about a proliferation of small arms in this country. We do not manufacture guns. The ease at which small arms seem to flow in our country is a cause for concern. The vulnerability of the education system, as a result of the proliferation of small arms in this country, is a cause for concern," he said.

SALIENT Jamaica is a joint programme launched in 2022 with the goal of tackling the proliferation of illicit firearms and reducing gun-related violence. One success story has been the conflict resolution workshop held at Kingston High School, which Shawna Jackson, the school's dean of discipline, said has begun to show promising results.

The programme also conducted violence audits in Norwood, St James, and Denham Town in Kingston, two communities plagued by gang violence. The results of the audits are expected to inform future violence prevention efforts.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force has reported that as of March 15, the country has recorded a 31 per cent reduction in murders since the start of the year - declining from 226 murders in 2024 to 158 murders in 2025. Despite the drop, the scale of Jamaica's gun violence crisis remains staggering. In a chilling address at the SALIENT event, Delroy Simpson, chief technical director in the Ministry of National Security's security, risk reform and transformation policy division, underscored the scale of the country's problem.

Between 1962 and the end of 2024, a staggering 48,923 persons have been murdered in the island, with 39,138 killed with the use of a firearm.

"When Jamaica gained independence in 1962, the murder rate was a low 3.9 per 100,000 of the population... the United States was 4.6 per 100,000. The murder rate has generally been on an upward trajectory since."

Simpson highlighted two deadly peaks - 2009, with a rate of 61.82 per 100,000 (1,683 murders), and 2017, with 58.65 per 100,000.

"Gun violence has tragically punctuated the vibrant rhythm of our communities, leaving behind a trail of sorrow, fear, and shattered lives," Simpson said.

He described illegal firearms are "instruments of destruction that empower criminal elements, escalate conflicts, and undermine the very fabric of our society".