The stabbing of two girls on the MV Bermudian on Friday night is a reality check for Bermuda, told the House of Assembly yesterday.

Speaking on motion to adjourn, Dr. Brown said blades have replaced bullets in Bermuda?s own gang warfare.

?In Bermuda we don?t have as much access to guns,? he said. ?Knives and machetes have taken the place of guns.?

Dr. Brown said one of the women stabbed has been a patient of his medical clinic.

?Even though she was stabbed, the country was injured in more than one way,? Dr. Brown said. ?It took us to a new low. I don?t recall something so sad and disappointing ever happening here. The fact it happened on a boat on the water made it worse.?

One of those who tried to help the stabbing victim was also connected to his clinic.

?The young lady who rushed to her aid on the boat is a nurse at our clinic,? Dr. Brown said. ?I want to publicly congratulate her for rising to the occasion.?

He said the was severely damaged during the melee.

?We have to bring to bear the strongest force we believe in,? he said. ?Those who believe in prayer have to pray hard for Bermuda.?

The last months have seen an increase in lawlessness, he said, and Government is committed to doing something ?very serious? about it.

He said he had experienced gang warfare first hand in Los Angeles in the early 1980s.

?My office in LA was on the street that divided the territories between the Bloods and the Crips,? he said. ?Guns were part of day to day life.?

He said everything was done to tackle gang violence in LA, but there are no simple or single solutions.

He called Friday?s attack a symptom of a deadlier disease ?which was wrapped up in all kinds of pathology?.

Dr. Brown said when he travels abroad promoting the Island he wants to be able to honestly tell potential visitors that Bermuda is a safe place.

?This phenomenon is not a PLP or a UBP issue, it is a Bermuda issue,? he said. ?No one single single sector has a solution.? said the PACE and Bail Acts were not the criminal justice reform Bermuda presently required.

?I can?t believe that nothing can be done,? he said. ?We have to reclaim our public property. We are permitting some people to overrun our community and they are a minority.?

He said parents must give more discipline and love to their children.

?Birds that can sing but won?t sing can be made to sing,? he said.