Minister of National and Security Wayne Perinchief addressed the issue of gun crime last night at the Southampton Town Hall meeting at the Heron Bay Primary School.While the meeting was for candidates from the four constituencies within the parish of Southampton, Mr Perinchief was called upon to address the topic of gun crime and what is being done to meet the violence head on.“Many of the perpetrators involved in the gun violence are incarcerated, so we are making inroads into the crimes being committed,” said Mr Perinchief. “Our focus will now branch out to those in middle schools and start work there, and we have asked for the help of the police and the Ministry of Education.“We have a strategy that starts from elementary school that monitors them and identifies early what is taking place and where there is a need, offer assistance to the student and their family.“It is not just about the police or government and their job to keep people safe, it is about the community as a whole. We have to look for our families and in this climate of how the Island is, we all need to be helpful regardless of what is going.“I believe that we are getting on board but there are still things that can be done to make it more effective.“We have many of the handguns, we found an old gun recently, and there were new bullets in it, so the bullets are coming in but it also goes to show that there aren’t that many weapons on the Island.”“Also, backtracking and looking at those who are currently serving time for gun crimes and seeing where they went wrong in order to get a historical measure of how they got into trouble will take place.”Pointing to the committee set up by Premier Paula Cox to tackle the problem and bring in a grassroots system that monitors students as young as elementary school, he was clear in his message that things were being put in place.“There is also counselling for those who have seen the horrific crimes or have lost family members due to these silly acts of violence.“There are plans in place to have childhood assessments in schools for children as young as five years old.“The Premier set up myself, Minister Glenn Blakeney, and Dame Jennifer Smith as a committee to deal with issues of helping those in need and we meet at least once a week to talk and address some things.“This is something that we aren’t taking lightly.”The meeting also saw Zane DeSilva, Stephen Todd, Scott Simmons, and Randy Horton of Constituency 29,30,31 and 32, respectively, speak to the audience about a wide range of topics.Minister Horton also pointed at the proven track record of all of his colleagues as he called for one voice to be heard as the party seeks re-election.