the Firearms Amendment Act. The bill, which substantially raises penalties for firearms offences, was passed unanimously.

No-one needs a gun in Bermuda, Transport Minister the Hon. Maxwell Burgess told the House of Assembly on Friday.

He went on to accuse the Opposition of "playing politics'' with the issue, claiming Shadow Home Affairs Minister Mr. Alex Scott had not condemned peole carrying guns.

"We are caring about our people,'' Mr. Burgess said. "Law and order will prevail. I can't imagine any position that I would be in that I would think that it was all right to carry a gun.

"We have to let the public know that if you carry a gun you get time and we will not tolerate it. We have social ills that we must change.'' But Ms Renee Webb (PLP) struck out at the UBP for their continuous criticism of the Opposition even though it supported the Firearms Amendment Act.

"We, the PLP, are damned if we do and damned if we don't. What is important is that we support this bill and our reasons are not for them (the UBP) to criticise.

"We have agreed that we do not support guns in our community so we should be given the due credit for supporting this legislation to imply otherwise is misleading the House and the public.'' She also said that when combating the gun problem those who come before the court are not dealt with equally.

"We still have the Harry Viera and the black boy on Court Street scenario.

This law will not make people equal,'' Ms Webb said.

"We have to look at what is happening in our community as to why people feel the need to pick up firearms,'' she said.

Ms Webb added that many of Bermuda's young black males were sitting on walls disillusioned with the status quo "they decide that they have to get what they want, quoting Malcolm X, `by any means necessary'.

"If we do not address the need to pick up firearms, this legislation will just sit on the books,'' Ms Webb said. "I don't see the law as a deterrent if we are not willing to address the social ills.'' Ms Webb added: "We are going through some serious times. Government should ask people on Court Street or the writers of the Nationalist magazine why they are frustrated.'' She also said violence is perpetuated by the media.

"Children see cartoon characters with weapons. The use of a gun is glamourised in our society today, and it is getting worse. It is having a real effect on our community. Parents should monitor what their children are exposed to.

But Mr. Harry Soares (UBP) said that what "we are hearing are more and more excuses as to why there is violence. It has been in cartoons for years.

"I feel strongly that everyone has the right to personal safety. If a person carrying a gun is not prepared to do the time, don't do the crime,'' he said.

Dr. Ewart Brown (PLP) said that he lived in Los Angeles where the issue of guns was being discussed years ago.

"The results of people having guns is extremely ugly and terrifying. I have seen the end result of gun play and I have seen victims of gun play,'' he said. "I have also seen people come into the emergency room to finish off what they started.

"Powerless people tend to look for the gun for power. We are seeing young people go from the hip hop culture to the nine millimetre culture.'' Dr. Brown also said: "The short term approach is not going to work. We need to look at the culture that goes along with this and what is breeding it.'' Minister of Health and Social Services the Hon. Quinton Edness (UBP) said that this Firearms Amendment Act was only one step and "maybe a minor step with what we need to do''.

"We know that television and the news has an impact on violence. News is far greater of an impact because it is a reflection of what goes on in our society.

"One thing that we need to do to fight crime and violence is to listen to our young people better than we have.'' Mr. Edness also said parents and adults had to make things better.

"I hope the House recognises that we are just taking the first step with guns and violence,'' Mr. Edness added.

"We have to concentrate on women getting beaten in front of their children.

The goal we have to achieve is to make violence unacceptable in our society.'' The Rev. Trevor Woolridge (PLP) said most people who commit crimes do not believe they will get caught.

"We cannot expect our Police to go out and fight vigorously if this kind of violence continues,'' Rev. Woolridge said.

He also commented on what the increase in violence and crime will do to the tourism industry.

"If this kind of violence continues why would tourists leave a violent country to come to a violent Island. The idea is to get away from it.'' He also said that legislation was not the answer on its own.

"If a support system is not in place then the legislation is immune to what we are doing here today. And even if the legislation is passed, without a support system it will fail.'' Minister of Human Affairs the Hon. Jerome Dill (UBP) said "guns don't kill people, people kill people and it is because people kill people that we have to focus on the penalties''.

"Mr. Speaker, what we need to do is focus on what we will do to the individual in this community who insists on trying to win the Bermuda way of life this way. Government stands for law and order.'' Mr. Dill said Jamaica had 690 murders in 1994, of which 383 involved firearms.

Bermuda did not have to wait until the situation got that bad. "We in Bermuda find ourselves in the position of saying: `Enough is enough'.'' The Country had to make sure those who import, possess, or use firearms "get what they deserve''.

But the Island also had to tackle violence in the home, because "children live what they learn'', Mr. Dill said.

"The gun is a symbol -- like it or not, right or wrong, and I say it's wrong -- of power,'' he said. "What we must do is ensure that those unfortunate enough to rely on physical force to resolve conflicts can't draw on that symbol.'' But Mr. Dill said Bermudians were not "at each other's throats'', and there was nothing wrong with Bermudian society. Every country was affected by violence.

"We must recognise that Bermuda is not another world,'' he said. "We are respectful people.

"The problem lies with those individuals who in a calculated, cold deliberate fashion take it upon themselves to utilise firearms in this community with the express purpose of forcing their will on other unsuspecting law-abiding citizens.'' Mr. Leon (Jimmy) Williams (PLP) said "education is a pre-condition to survival in Bermuda''.

Adults had to tell the young that education paid and make sure that education translated into decent jobs.

He asked whether the bill covered toy guns and said they, too, should be banned in Bermuda.

Black Bermudians in leadership roles had to go into the communities and help clean them up, Mr. Williams said.

It was important that all Bermudians felt safe in their homes.

And the House of Assembly should have metal detectors at the entrance, he said, noting that those who recently sprayed graffiti at Bermuda College had crossed out both the UBP and the PLP and written in "revolt''.

Dr. David Dyer (UBP) said he supported the bill, but he questioned whether it went far enough.

Many felt "something more precise and final'' was needed.

Guns had been banned in Bermuda for more than 20 years, but they continued to proliferate, Dr. Dyer said.

Something was not working.

"Surely, the punishment should be greater,'' he said. Carrying a gun "should be tantamount to taking someone's life''.

"Why not go all the way and say the penalty for carrying a gun will be death?'' he asked. "There is no recidivism after death.'' Mr. Reginald Burrows (PLP) said Bermudians lived in "a stressed-out society'' in which people wanted to retaliate, rather than turn the other cheek.

And Bermuda had become very violent, much like the US.

Mr. Burrows said he found that most young people "display a confrontational and violent approach to life,'' and little respect for authority.

That had to be addressed. "If we're going to solve our problems, we're going to have to solve our problems together, whether we like it or not,'' he said.

Bermuda could solve its own problems and did not need much outside help. But the young often took their lead from Bermuda's MPs, whom they saw as confrontational.

Government's encouragement of home ownership had added to the stress of Bermuda life, Mr. Burrows said. Homes were expensive, and many Bermudians were working multiple jobs to meet mortgage payments while neglecting their families.

Home Affairs Minister the Hon. Irving Pearman said he heard many MPs blaming education and Government for Bermuda's problems, but he heard little talk about parenting.

"Behaviour is learned, good or bad, and it can be changed around,'' Mr.

Pearman said.

The polls showed that drugs and crime were uppermost in the minds of Bermudians. But "Government has not only become the whipping boy, it's supposed to be the babysitter for other people's responsibilities,'' he said.

Men were spending time in clubs "indulging in things they shouldn't be,'' instead of with their families.

"Particularly in the black community, these clubs have robbed a lot of our males of their manhood,'' he said.

The Bermuda Police needed support, but it did not mean pouring more men and more money into the Service, he said. Like anything else, the service "needs enhancement, it needs new ways of looking at things'', he said.

The recent public shootings in Bermuda that sparked the great concerns about violence occurred when the hierarchy of Bermuda's Police was all-Bermudian, he said.

So it was the height of "misleading statements'' when Mr. Scott "virtually said'' it was the more recent short-term hiring of two top English officers that had caused the problem.

"The issues that brought this to a head took place when there wasn't even a contemplation of that route,'' he said. If Bermudian officers knew who had guns and who would use them, "we would have apprehended all of this long ago.'' Government had "tried desperately'' for 15 years to Bermudianise the Police service, Mr. Pearman said. More than 300 people had been trained and 72 had been retained. One hundred completed the programme and never enlisted, and more than 100 joined and have since left.

An approach that had been used successfully elsewhere was to recruit older officers, aged 24 and up, who had more worldly experience and could better withstand the pressures of policing, he said.

The plan had been to bring one officer from England to work with Commissioner Mr. Lennett (Lennie) Edwards, Mr. Pearman said. But when he had to leave for health reasons, a vacuum was left.

"No one has been told they're not in the running,'' but senior officers will be seconded to overseas forces for several months to gain wider experience, he said.

Shadow Tourism Minister Mr. David Allen said the legislation would assure visitors Bermuda was taking a "proper, appropriate and strong step'' to stem the "drift'' toward increasing violence.

Bermuda still had a good reputation as a safe destination, but not as good as it should be or used to be, Mr. Allen said.

Increasing violence was particularly hard on small properties. Large hotels could adopt a "compound mentality,'' but small hotels could not.

The increased penalties had to be combined with other measures, like increased Police patrols, Mr. Allen said. And Mr. Pearman's claims about Government trying to Bermudianise the force "flies in the face of facts''.

Mr. Pearman had said Government listened to the polls, Mr. Allen said. He challenged Government to poll Bermudians on its decision to hire top Police officers from England.

Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan said the gun law was "just one step'' in Bermuda's approach to tackling crime.

Rather than laying blame, Bermudians had to work together to solve the problem, he said.

"This firearms act I hope one day will become archaic,'' Sir John said. "We will no longer need it.''