Government Senator Abena St. Luce thanked police officers for risking their lives to protect the public but urged investigators and prosecutors to do more to secure convictions, saying tougher sentences would mean little if gun-crime cases did not succeed in court.

“Especially when it comes to investigations,” St. Luce said during Senate debate on the Firearms Amendment Bill, 2026. “If we don’t have a conviction, those sentences mean nothing.”

She said officers faced criticism and worked in dangerous conditions, while their successes often went unrecognized. She also commended police and Defence Force personnel for searches conducted during Carnival, saying officers searched people carrying backpacks and found contraband, scissors and, in one case she recalled, a firearm.

St. Luce said seeing officers patrolling and walking through communities could make residents feel safer. But she told police and the Director of Public Prosecutions that the public needed to see stronger results from investigations and prosecutions.

“We need you to step up a little bit more,” she said, stressing that she was not saying officers were getting everything wrong but that people were “desperate” for progress. When cases reached court, she said, successful prosecutions were needed to ensure offenders were punished and victims’ families received justice.

St. Luce said the bill addressed more than the person holding a gun during a robbery. It sought to make people accountable at different points in a firearm’s journey to a crime scene, she said, including those who sell, transfer, manufacture or illegally bring weapons into Antigua and Barbuda.

She also cited provisions dealing with firearms in vehicles, boats and other forms of transport. St. Luce said people responsible for a vehicle could face consequences if a passenger had a firearm, unless they could prove they did not know it was there. She urged people to be careful about their associates and the company they kept.

The bill also addressed the manufacturing of firearms and ammunition, she said, noting that 3D printers can be used to make guns or firearm components. People who bring guns into the country illegally for profit should find honest work, she said, rather than adding to fear and violence.

St. Luce said she was concerned by reports of repeat offenders receiving sentences of less than two years, including people who modified flare guns or made firearms. She argued that the bill’s increased penalties were justified, while emphasizing that a firearm could pass through several hands before being used in a crime.

Her comments came after she referred to a news report about an armed robbery at the Multipurpose Centre. She said gun violence was a regional problem, but Antigua and Barbuda should seek to lead in finding solutions rather than accept the situation.

St. Luce named several people she said had died in gun violence this year, including teenagers and adults, and said each death left a lasting loss for families. The debate, she said, was about more than legislation and sentencing policy: It involved people losing parents, children and other loved ones.

She agreed with calls for parents and communities to take greater responsibility for young people, saying government and police could not prevent crime alone. People in communities often knew when something was wrong before police became involved, she said, and residents had a role in protecting one another.

The Senate later passed the Firearms Amendment Bill, which amends the Firearms Act to increase penalties for offenses.

This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: St. Luce praises police work but urges stronger investigations and convictions.