Weapons (guns) in wrong hands - Its effects on society

A weapon is an instrument used in combat for killing, injuring, or defeating an enemy. Weapons can come in the form of a shock weapon normally held in hand and examples of such gadget includes club, mace, and sword.

Weapons can also come in a form of missiles and examples including rifles, pistols, and cannons and the last group of weapons is the conventional and unconditional weapons and examples are the atomic bomb, thermonuclear, and grenade.

The wisdom behind manufacturing weapons is for individuals and states to be used in facilitating works or to protect but when such instruments land in the wrong hands can be used in negative ways, for instance in destroying the state, killing individuals, or causing severe harm to individuals or a group of people.

This article seeks to find out how weapons get their way into the hands of wrong people and the way forward? Ghana is embedded with beautiful laws, not only in the area of weapons but other areas of national concern but the problem we always confront is, on paper such laws look fabulous but when it comes to applying such laws, it's zero.

The country, Ghana has arms and ammunition Decree 1972 (NRCD9) which was amended by ACT 2001 (ACT 604)2. This law is loaded with sections on how to register guns, the method deployed in registering guns, how guns can be transferred from one hand to another, who qualifies to import or export guns, who qualifies to possess guns, and many more sections.

Ghana has witnessed a lot of incidents as a result of weapons being held by the wrong people and in such cases, it has led to deaths or victims undergoing severe injuries. A young lady by the name of Eunice kessewa was hit by a stray bullet and this led to her untimely death on 22 August 2021 at Free Town, an area within the community of Nima, a suburb of Accra.

According to an eyewitness who happens to be the brother of the late Eunice, on that faithful day, he was escorting the sister from work and as they got to that spot, there was an ongoing wedding ceremony and the friends of the groom and bridegroom were firing guns indiscriminately, unfortunately, one of the bullets hit the sister's hips and found its way through the stomach and the rest is history.

There was another sad event that happened in Zuarungu, a suburb of Bolgatanga where two police officers were gunned down by armed robbers on 15 December 2021. Similar to what happened in Zuarungu, another case where the state lost three police officers in Walewalle in broad daylight robbery which resulted in an exchange of gunfire between the police team and the robbers on 21 Oct 2021.

In my concluding remarks, the country Ghana has laws which when religiously followed and applied will help to mitigate the problem of guns finding their way into the wrong hands. Tougher penalties should also be given to people who possess guns without passing through the proper channel of gun acquisition.

Accomplices who act as catalysts, either within the security or ministries must be allowed to face the rigours of the state's laws when found guilty of aiding wrong people to possess guns. Such individuals must be made to resign or be sacked from their job to discourage others within state institutions from indulging in similar practices.