During Wednesday’s upper house parliamentary debate on a bill to amend the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, which would establish a specialized gun court in Barbados, opposition Senator Karina Goodridge issued a pointed call to reframe the nation’s approach to rising gun-related violence. While Goodridge, leader of the Friends of Democracy party, did not oppose the creation of the new firearm court division, she argued that the measure only addresses harms after crimes have been committed, failing to tackle the root of the problem: the steady flow of illegal weapons into the country.
Goodridge emphasized that the island’s first line of defense against gun violence should not be the courtroom, but strengthened upstream controls that stop illegal firearms from reaching Barbadian communities in the first place. “Firearm court deals with the consequences of gun crime. It does not prevent a single illegal firearm from entering Barbados, and we must make that clear,” she told legislators. “It does not disrupt a single trafficking network. So the first line of defence against illegal firearms, in my view, may not be the courtroom.”
The senator pushed for urgent investment in enhanced border security, pressing the government to answer critical unaddressed questions about how illegal guns are infiltrating the country’s borders. She called for additional resources and funding to be allocated to frontline agencies tasked with intercepting contraband, including Customs, Immigration, the Barbados Coast Guard, and national law enforcement units. Beyond border infrastructure, Goodridge also raised proactive concerns about the risk of institutional corruption undermining gun interdiction efforts. While she stressed that she has no concrete evidence of existing police corruption tied to gun trafficking, she argued that the government must put robust safeguards in place to prevent corrupt actors from facilitating the flow of illegal weapons.
In addition to her call for a policy shift toward root-cause interventions, Goodridge flagged structural gaps that could weaken the effectiveness of the proposed gun court even if the bill passes. She noted that adequate staffing is not enough to run a modern, efficient judicial institution; outdated technology infrastructure across the Supreme Court has long been a source of complaint from judges, bar association members, and litigants alike. Goodridge recounted multiple instances of judicial officers reporting malfunctioning recording equipment and outdated digital systems that slow case proceedings and create administrative backlogs. To ensure the new gun court can deliver timely, consistent justice, she urged the government to prioritize upgrading the court’s technological infrastructure before the division launches. Goodridge also recommended that policymakers explore adopting the online court model used successfully in other jurisdictions to improve access and efficiency for gun-related cases.
The debate over the gun court bill comes as Barbados grapples with persistent gun crime, prompting competing visions for how to reduce violence: one focused on expediting prosecutions and sentencing through specialized courts, and the other advanced by Goodridge that prioritizes cutting off the supply of illegal weapons at the source.