Airport and dock security are high on the Government agenda given recent crimes that involved handguns.

But Public Safety Minister Quinton Edness said the onus will be on each Bermudian family to inform on friends and relatives who own handguns because that is a necessary part of a process that will eradicate illegal weapons from the Island.

Mr. Edness said he was considering bringing legislation before Parliament that would impose a mandatory life sentence on any person convicted of committing a crime using a handgun.

"I think all of Bermuda would support that,'' he said. "Bermudians do not like firearms and they don't want people using them in the community.'' Mr. Edness said the Bermuda Police Service has recovered five firearms from persons they have arrested as well as a large quantity of ammunition.

And he said the need for heavily armed members of the Emergency Response Team to be called out to deal with such incidents as the armed robbery of the Somerset Branch of the Bank of Bermuda was "an ugly new phenomenon in Bermuda''.

"(These incidents) have convinced the Police commissioner and they have convinced me that Bermuda today is standing right in the way of a fast moving train and that we have to shout a warning as loudly as we can.

"Unless we Bermudians do more to help us recover the illegal weapons that are obviously in circulation that train is going to run us over.'' Mr. Edness said if families do not turn in their gun-possessing relatives, the tourism industry will suffer and "the way of life that has made Bermuda the beautiful place that it is'' will also disappear.

Mr. Edness also said he would not rule out another handgun amnesty in the future.

"We are discussing those things at the moment,'' he said last night. "I think the recent changes to the laws regarding handguns were quite strong for those caught in possession of such weapons.

"But what we did not do is say if anyone was caught using a firearm then that would be a mandatory life sentence without question if they were convicted.

"Government wants to send the message to everyone that if a person is caught and convicted of using a handgun to commit a crime then the punishment is life in prison.'' Mr. Edness said he expected this measure to get support from the Opposition Progressive Labour Party and the broader, law abiding, community.

And he said his Ministry is also taking a closer look at the docks and Airport to see if the current security arrangements can be tightened.

The Public Safety Minister said the increased incidence of gun-toting criminals is a direct result of the use and abuse of illicit drugs on the Island.

"We are seeing a far more vicious brand of criminal in Bermuda today who patterns himself off of things happening in North America,'' he said.

"I also think that drugs are a major contributing factor to people who wish to have firearms. They use them to commit crimes and also for protection in the gang wars that drugs bring about.''