countries drenched in guns. One of the most civilised things Bermuda inherited from Britain was a Police service that was not gun-toting and an absence of illegal public sector guns.

However we have to recognise that in today's mass communications world the United States has saturated the media with publicity about guns. This publicity, which ranges from simple advertisements to major films and constant television programmes, is not always anti-guns. Many of the social problems we are experiencing arise because illegal guns and the violent use of guns are shown so frequently that their use begins to seem normal. The lawless element in any society tends to be influenced by films and American film has made gun use seem commonplace if not acceptable.

Historically films have had an enormous influence on the way people lived their lives. Hollywood has shaped our lives in ways we do not even recognise.

People have reared their children, worn their clothes and decorated their homes according to what they saw in films. For many years films were a force for good. But things changed when television challenged movie theatres and film producers in search of audiences began to push more and more into the areas of violence and sex and violent sex.

But people have also tended to use their emotions in the way they saw emotions used on film. If it was good for the character in a favoured film then it was good. Some people have also taken their behaviour from films and that is a major problem when it comes to both drugs and guns. Just as early rock stars created a fashion for drugs and gave a whole generation permission to follow them into drug use, so films have associated guns and violence with drugs.

Too often these days what is depicted in films and on TV is not a force for good but a suggestion that guns and violence are acceptable. The constant use of force and the violent use of guns as demonstrated in films and, especially on TV, is destructive to personalities and to society. People learn from example.

What we have seen happening in Bermuda is little different from what is happening elsewhere but that is no reason to think guns in the streets are acceptable in Bermuda. Bermuda does not want guns and will not have guns and Bermudians must demonstrate that fact.

We have little doubt that the situation in Bermuda is a good deal better than many other places. That is demonstrated by the fact that the use of guns can, and should, cause a public outcry. In many places these days the use of guns is so common that it is not mentioned. Visitors from North America are doubtless safer here than they are at home, especially if they come from a city.

But we must not be complacent. Bermudians never want their country to become so like the films that they are locked inside their homes while armed criminals roam freely in the lawless streets. There is no room in this society for illegal gun use and it will not be tolerated.