The Buxton tragedy
Editorial
The news which dominated the headlines last week was Raul Herod's annihilation of almost his entire family. The pundits were quick to offer their theories, including Minister of Home Affairs Ronald Gajraj who was reported as saying that his ministry would have to take greater care in the future with the operations of security firms and the manner in which they issued firearms to their employees. But what general inferences, if any, can be drawn from this highly singular incident? In the first place, in fairness to the security companies, guards licensed to carry firearms are not, statistically speaking, in the forefront of the murdering population. In fact, this is the first incident of its kind involving an armed security guard which anyone can recall. There have been cases where security guards have used their weapons on duty in circumstances which were hard to justify, but there is no reason to believe that security personnel in general are unusually prone to mass murder, or that the screening processes for their employment necessarily suffer from serious inadequacies. This does not mean that there are not lessons which the private security firms can draw from the tragedy; in particular, fears openly expressed by family members about a guard relative who carries a gun on a twenty-four hour basis should be taken very seriously, no matter how quiet the demeanour of the guard while at work. In addition, from what has been revealed in the press, it may be that the monitoring systems of armed security personnel would benefit from some tightening up. However, in a general sense there is no reason to believe that innumerable potential Raul Herods are lurking in the ranks of the security companies waiting to unleash their twisted vengeance on their families. In a larger sense the events at Buxton are illustrative of other forms of malaise in the society, which we all know about already. Minister Gajraj should recognize quite simply that the more guns there are in private hands, the more accidents and murders involving firearms there will be. Killing with a firearm, which distances the perpetrator physically and psychologically from his victim, has always been acknowledged to be easier than with a more personal weapon like a knife. At least security firms screen and monitor their employees, but who monitors private licensed firearm holders? There are too many guns around in private hands because the police can no longer afford adequate protection to citizens. In fact, there is a proliferation of private security companies too for exactly the same reason. Minister Gajraj should use this as a cue to tackle some of the problems in the police force. Then there is the housing problem. One of Herod's neighbours observed after the tragedy that there were too many people living in one small house - the implication being that this exacerbated friction. How right she was. Extended families are forced into close proximity on account of the difficulty of obtaining reasonably priced accommodation in this low-wage economy of ours. There is also the question too that people no longer know how to listen to each other, and moreover to disagree with each other in a civil fashion. They apparently have no techniques for resolving their inter-personal problems, and exchanges always seem to degenerate into either irrationality or abuse or both. But then that is how our politicians behave, so what can one expect of everyone else. In a sense, this tragedy was an example - albeit an egregious one - of domestic violence. Wives in particular get chopped up and burnt to death on a disturbingly regular basis in this country, and this barely stirs a murmur in the society at large. Furthermore, their spouses who are responsible for their deaths invariably plead guilty to a manslaughter charge, and with good behaviour are out of jail after a few years. If this horrific case focuses some greater attention on the matter of domestic violence, perhaps we will be able as a society to learn something from it after all. In the end, we shall never know exactly what drove Raul Herod to do what he did. That is a secret he has taken to the grave. The best we can do is to use the tragedy as a starting point for some self-reflection on our social ills.
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